The Imposter
by RamenOnAStick
Summary: Miyoko is the only female member of the Ouran High Chess Club, a club with only five members!. But what happens when she is asked to infiltrate the host club by posing as a fangirl to learn their secrets?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfiction so please review and tell me if it's good! I don't mind criticism!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club!**

**Chapter 1- Ouran High Chess Club**

I was so close. In just a few minutes I would have it. Smiling softly to myself, I carefully planned my next move. Before I could silently celebrate my victory, my opponent said one little word that would strike a blow to my spirits.

"Checkmate." Naoko Hayashi, the reigning chess champion and President of the Ouran High Chess Club said smugly.

"What?" I stuttered, dumb folded, "but how?"

My chance was ruined. I would never become the champion and President if I couldn't beat Naoko. "Oh, that's just not fair…" I groaned.

It was my one dream. One day I would rule over them all as the first woman President of the Chess Club at Ouran.

"Miyoko, I must ask a favour of you after club activities have ended." Naoko stated as he packed our game up.

"What is it, President?" I asked curiously, but he didn't hear me.

After we had said goodbye to all five members of the club, Naoko sat down at his desk and stared at me solemnly through the horn-rimmed glasses which framed his deep brown eyes. I knew immediately that it must be very important.

"Miyoko." He said stately, rearranging results of previous games which had collected on his desk, "You know that, as well as being Vice-President, you are also the only girl in the club?"

I fought back the urge not to giggle as I replied "Yes, President."

He always spoke as if he were attending a major business meeting.

"Well, my colleagues and I have investigated other clubs to reveal how they market female attention to their activities." He explained, clearing his throat, "Although our studies have failed to unearth any secrets, we have been able to conclude that the Host Club is the most successful at gaining female interest."

"Hmm?" I stammered distracted by the small figures of seven people who appeared to be playing some sort of game on the school grounds, "Umm… yes, I suppose they are."

"Our aim is to discover these vital secrets to incorporate them into our own club activities and therefore extrapolate a greater proportion of female subjects at Ouran Academy into our chess club." Naoko droned as I rolled my eyes in exasperation at the thought that he was still going on, "We have devised a plan which we believe will achieve our goal. You, as our only current female member, play a key role in our plan."

"What's that then, Naoko?" I asked, not really listening. It's very hard to stay awake when you're talking to our President. I found my yawns getting larger and larger….

"We have decided that you will pose as an average female visitor to the host club in order to infiltrate and uncover their secrets in gaining the interest of females. I believe that the technical term is called a fangirl." He said matter-of-factly.

"What?" I exclaimed, nearly jumping out of my chair. Had I missed something? Was this all some sort of joke that Naoko was pulling? (I doubted this though. Naoko was not the joke type.) What was happening to the world?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- A fangirl?**

"You want me to go undercover as a fangirl?" I blurted.

Naoko nodded. "We have assigned you the task of being a typical visitor. I believe this means that you will be required to request Tamaki Suoh, the club's president. His request rate at the club is 70%. This will be the perfect approach."

"But…" I protested without thinking.

_Hey, _I thought eagerly, _if I do this maybe Naoko will nominate me for President when he graduates!_

After all the time that I'd spent waiting to become President, a few more months wouldn't matter. "I'll do it!" I declared wildly, "What do I have to do?"

I found myself seriously regretting my decision the next day as I stood outside the door of Music Room 3. No more chess for three whole months! How had I managed to get dragged into this?

The ornate wooden door creaked slightly as I opened it and pink sakura flowers came floating out. In the centre of the room, surrounded by girls, were all seven members of the Host Club, dressed in outfits better suited to an Egyptian Pharaoh and his servants. "Welcome!" They said in unison.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed in a voice that made me want to throw up, "It's really the Host Club! The REAL, LIVE HOST CLUB! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Is it a new customer, Kyoya?" asked the fabled President, Tamaki Suoh, curiously.

All the girls were always talking about him. About how handsome, kind, gentle and princely he was. But to me, he just seemed like a complete idiot.

"Yes," replied the black haired guy with the glasses to the left of Tamaki, who I assumed was Kyoya. "She is Miyoko Takaki, of class 1-A. Her family owns many important businesses, she is Vice-President of the Ouran High Chess Club, and her favourite foods are shio ramen and onigiri."

I tried to hold back the look of horror on my face. How did this person, who I had never met before in my life, somehow know my entire life story?

"She looks weird." The twins dismissed casually.

"Hey, that's not fair. She can't help it." said a small brown haired person who I was sure was a girl.

"Hikaru! Kaoru! Haruhi is right!" scolded Tamaki, "Any new customer is a princess here!"

"Err…" I stumbled, trying to get to the point.

"So!" said Tamaki, turning towards me,"Who are you requesting today? Will it be the wild type? The cool type? The loli shota type? The little devil type? The natural type?"

"Umm…" I said nervously, unable to believe that I was about to do this."I-"

"Or," he said suggestively, "Will you request me? The Prince type?"

"Um... you please." I replied, trying to sound girly and excited despite what I really felt like. Absolutely terrified.

"Me!" he beamed, grabbing hold of my body and tipping my head back, "Thank you, my princess! From the moment I saw you, I hoped with every essence of my heart that you would pick me! I will forever be contented with my life from now on, as long as you remain by my side, my love!"

_This is supposed to "bring happiness to girls?"_ I thought as I resisted the growing urge to escape through a nearby window.


	3. Chapter 3

**From this chapter onward, I'm going to try and increase the amount of words!**

**Anyways, please review! I accept criticism!**

**Disclaimer-I don't own Ouran!**

**Chapter 3- Acting**

My reputation as a chess lover and general nerd was rapidly going down the drain as the news that I was the newest visitor to the Host Club slowly leaked out to the class of 1-A. For the first time in my life I had to pretend that I actually cared about my looks. As part of my training, Naoko had forced me to cut my dreary shoulder length brown hair into layers complete with highlights and now I actually had to wear MAKE-UP as well. Why did it all matter? I had thought that things simply couldn't get any worse, but as usual, I was wrong.

"So why did you request Tamaki-Sempai, Miyoko?" asked two random girls who, despite the fact that I had never spoken to them in my entire time at Ouran, were now treating me like their new best friend.

"Huh?" I gabbled, "Oh… um, he's so… princely. And he's really handsome too."

"I requested Kyoya!" said the dark haired girl to my left dreamily, "He's so mysterious… and cool… and just plain awesome!"

I let myself smirk for a split second. How could this girl like the creepy nerd-boy? Fangirls were so _weird_.

"You two are both crazy!" the other girl teased, shaking her shaggy blond head at us sadly, "Mori-Sempai and Honey-Sempai are the best! I mean, Honey-Sempai is so cute, and Mori-Sempai is so strong and silent – and it's totally adorable how he looks after Honey-Sempai!"

"Cool!" I said dismissively, attempting to sound interested. "Err… what were your names again?"

"Oh!" exclaimed the blond girl, blinking her brown eyes in astonishment, "You don't know? I'm Kita, and this is Fuiju."

As I nodded in recognition, the final bell sounded, signaling the end of another school day. "Eek!" squealed my two new 'friends', linking arms and jumping up and down, "School's over! C'mon, Miyoko, let's go to the host club!"

Grabbing my arm, they tore down the corridor of the South building, heading towards Music Room 3. Passing by, I couldn't help but glance longingly at the welcoming doors of the library and Chess Club as I headed towards another afternoon of torture.

"So, Tamaki," I said casually, sitting at a table in the club room surrounded by six Tamaki fangirls, "Umm… what do you like doing? I mean, what are your hobbies?"

Naoko had told me that the girls at the club always ask these sorts of questions. I hoped that they wouldn't provoke Tamaki into doing something freaky again.

"I like gazing into your eyes, which are like green pools of sunset pulling me in." he replied, tilting my head back into he was almost kissing me while at the same time confirming my fears.

I giggled and attempted to fake a blush. "Oh stop it, Tamaki!" I exclaimed 'fondly'.

I never would understand how one person could come up with so much endless drabble. Besides, what was a 'green pool of sunset' anyway?

Whilst Tamaki was entertaining his hordes, I slipped away and wandered around the room, spying on the other hosts. I was making mental notes on what they did. Hiding behind a pole, I began eavesdropping on the twins and their customers. "Kaoru had another bad dream last night," laughed Hikaru obnoxiously, "He nearly fell right out of our bed!"

"Hikaru!" protested Kaoru, blushing furiously, "You promised not to tell! Why are you being so mean?"

"I'm sorry!" Hikaru apologized, gently grasping his brother's hand, "You just looked so cute…"

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" squealed the customers excitedly, "What beautiful brotherly love!"

I stood behind my pole with my mouth wide open. Fangirls were so disturbing. But at least I had something to tell Naoko.

As I was getting ready to leave, one of the twins stopped me in my tracks. "Why were you hiding behind a pole and staring at us earlier?" he asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Umm…" I stuttered, speechless, "I was – I was just checking out the rest of the club. Because I'm new and all."

Without hesitation, I tore away from the twin (was it Hikaru?) and hurried upstairs to the library. Naoko would be waiting for his first ever report on the secrets of the host club.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to the people who reviewed!**

**If I don't update for a while, I haven't abandoned it! I've got lots of school stuff on soon…**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Ouran High School Host Club!**

**Chapter 4- A Meeting**

Naoko looked up from his paper work in surprise as I finally entered the library which I had missed for so long. I looked around the shelves and squishy armchairs fondly as I inhaled the delicious booky smell which felt so familiar and calming. It was a relief to be back to the place I loved after living in a world of utter madness for three entire days.

"Hi, Naoko!" I greeted warmly, "I've come to give my first report on the Host Club."

Oddly enough, I was even pleased to see him. It was so weird. Three days in hell and suddenly I was glad to see someone who I previously believed to be the most irritating person on the planet. Being at the Host Club did strange things to a person…

"So what have you uncovered?" Naoko asked, hitching his glasses further up his nose and stacking his papers neatly onto his desk. Even whilst conducting a secret operation he still acted like a professional businessman.

"Umm… lots of… _interesting _things." I replied, not wanting to go into the details.

"What exactly are these things, Miyoko?" he said impatiently, smoothing his shiny black hair.

"The girls love yaoi, particularly twincest, and they also seem to enjoy being harassed by a completely fake and over the top 'prince'. They like cuteness, nerds, emos and 'brotherly love'." I reported, trying to include everything that I'd observed at the club.

It took every muscle on my face to resist the urge to burst into laughter as Naoko, instead of being disturbed by this information like any other sane person, seriously considered it. "Interesting…" he said thoughtfully, "Well then, we will have to incorporate this into our Chess Club immediately. Anything else uncovered?"

_He wants more? _I thought, small beads of sweat running down my forehead as I watched him write the things I'd told him neatly into a small black notepad. I swear that Naoko is just not normal.

"Um…" I wondered, thinking hard, "Oh – Tamaki's an idiot. And the twins are just obnoxious."

"Excellent work, Miyoko," he congratulated, still as stoic as ever. "Keep on uncovering those secrets. I will make the Chess Club great again."

"Yes sir." I replied, bowing politely. "I'll keep working as hard as possible."

As I walked towards the Library door, I felt a small prickle of dread blossom in the pit of my stomach. What exactly was Naoko going to do with this 'information' on how to attract girls? _This better be worth it, _I thought grimly as I opened the ancient door of the Library, _otherwise I might just go insane._

Closing the door, I breathed a sigh of relief. First interrogation session over. How many would there be left to go? I turned around only to be confronted by the same twin that I had met before. "What have I done this time?" I asked irritably, rolling my eyes in exasperation.

"Nothing." He said innocently, "Why were you in the library?"

"Oh," I said snidely, feigning ignorance, "Is that a crime now? Where's the other one, anyway?"

Why was this guy stalking me? What on Earth had I done to him?

"I didn't tell him about how you spied on us. He get to easily upset and carried away." He replied, "Why were you in the library?"

I froze. Why was he so suspicious of me? "Just because I'm a visitor to the Host Club now doesn't mean that I can't keep my own interests, you know." I answered icily, trying to keep my cover, "Besides, who are you anyway?"

"Stop whatever it is that you're doing. You will only hurt the Host Club as well as yourself." He warned seriously.

I was left stunned as I watched him continue down the corridor. It was as if we had never spoken in the first place. Was I really that obvious?

It was not until he was a small speck right down towards the end of the corridor when I realized that he had never answered my last question. "Hey!" I called, running desperately as fast as I could to catch up with him.

He turned around at the sound of my voice. "What is it?" he asked, confused.

"You didn't answer me," I gasped, bending over in pain (I am the biggest failure at running), "Who are you?"

His yellow cat-like eyes sparkled mischievously as he looked at my dying figure. "If you figure it out, I won't tell what them that you are up to something." he teased, grinning cheekily.

_What the?_ I thought as he ran around the corner and out of sight. For a minute I tried to catch up, but my breathing grew so desperate that I had to give up and stagger to the nearest armchair, my chest heaving.

What had he just said? How was I supposed to figure out who he was, especially without blowing my cover? After only three days of my new 'work', everything was already falling apart.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer- I don't own Ouran High School Host Club!**

**PS. My sister wants me to give her credit for the line "she sighed and gazed meaningfully into the distance in a way which only a fangirl can."**

**Chapter 5- Tactics**

The room was dark and empty but still my eyes remained wide open. Shadows fell eerily over all of my junk, making it feel like I wasn't alone. My piles of books ALL OVER the floor now resembled random freaky stalkers who could be coming after me, and the pieces of furniture stood tall and menacingly. Grumbling, I told myself silently that I was just being paranoid (well who _isn't _paranoid at midnight?) and rolled over yet again. This was a bad decision.

"Eek!" I screamed as I hit the floor hard for the third time in twenty minutes.

It was twelve pm, and I still couldn't sleep at all. _What is wrong with me? _I thought irritably, hitching myself back onto my deluxe four poster bed whilst rubbing my one hundred and one bruises.

Seriously. After all that had happened earlier today, I was now suddenly so distracted that I couldn't sleep a wink and fell off the bed twenty-four/seven? Something was defiantly wrong with me. I mean, this just wasn't normal.

I was about to fall of my bed _again _when the door to my room creaked open. I screamed loudly, terrified. "What's wrong, Miyoko?" asked the concerned voice of my older sister, Kameko, turning on the crystal chandelier and walking in.

She parted the purple satin curtains around me and stopped as slowly she took in my messed up sheets and pillows as well as my now slightly disheveled figure. "Are you alright?" she continued, "I heard all these loud noises..."

"I'm fine, Kameko." I said reassuringly, smiling as I attempted to flatten my hair, which now looked like a mushroom cloud after a nuclear explosion, "Don't worry."

Hastily, I straightened my purple nightie and pushed her back out of the door. I turned around and faced my room once it closed. Somehow, it now felt incredibly empty and lonely. Sighing, I climbed back into bed and attempted to go to sleep once more. It didn't work – and just a few minutes later there was a familiar thump as I fell off – yet _again._

"Miyoko?" asked a voice from far away.

"Hrmmm…" I mumbled, half- asleep and daydreaming about the day that was awaiting me – the day where I had to confront whoever-it-was.

"Miyoko?" repeated the voice, sounding even more confused than before, "Are you okay? Did you sleep well?"

"Huh?" I said, snapping out of my trance and looking up.

I was sitting at the vast breakfast table in my pajamas. Laden in front of me was enough food to feed an entire commoner family for a week, and sitting next to me was my sister. Her long brown hair was already tied up neatly, ready for the day ahead even though it was probably only about seven am. I realized that I must have drifted off to sleep. But how had I gotten here? I didn't remember walking down to breakfast!

"Did you not sleep well?" my sister asked, her brown eyes filled with concern. "Are you sure that your okay? You always sleep like a log."

"Umm… yeah, I think so." I replied, "Well, I guess that there's a first time for everything."

I stood up too fast, sending my chair clattering noisily to the floor. My face burned red in embarrassment. "Aren't you going to eat something?" Kameko asked, "Oh no! Do you have a fever? Should you stay in bed for the day?"

"I'm fine." I reassured, smiling, "Stop worrying about it, okay? I think I'll go read before the limo comes."

This didn't satisfy her. Perhaps she'd have been more convinced if I hadn't tripped over the red carpet in my attempt to get out of there in record time.

"Good morning, Miss Takaki," the chauffer greeted as I clambered into the sleek black limo.

Normally I would have said hello, but I was so distracted by my confused thoughts that all I could do was nod slightly in recognition. How had he guessed that I was up to something? Was I that obvious? Why was he making me play some stupid game and more importantly, _how was I going to win?_ I barely knew him? How was I meant to know who he was? The squashed fly on my windscreen became a very captivating object to stare at as I pondered the seemingly impossible task ahead of me.

"Hey, Kita, can I ask you something?" I asked at lunch time as we were in the cafeteria line.

"What is it, Miy - " she began, before getting pushed by a random class C member behind us, "Hey, stop pushing!"

"Err…" I said, wondering what I should ask, "Do you know how to tell the twins apart?"

"Why do you want to know?" she asked curiously, "I thought you liked Tamaki-Sempai!"

"I do. It's just, um, I'd like to get to know the other club members better, you know, because um, Tamaki-Sempai does and I want to be like him," I said hotly, lying wildly.

"Oh, okay!" she exclaimed, winking.

I squirmed with embarrassment at her over-enthusiasm. How had she fallen for _that?_

"Hikaru parts his hair on the left, and Kaoru parts his on the right," she explained helpfully, "Hope you can truly bond with Tamaki now! If you ever need any more help, I'm here! Ask me anything!"

She sighed and gazed meaningfully into the distance in a way that only a fangirl can. I flashed her a gigantically fake smile.

"Thanks!" I squealed in a really high pitched voice, hugging her as I tried to remember what side he had had his hair parted yesterday, "I love ya!"

As I walked to one of the long tables, I passed one of the twins, who was still in the long queue. I couldn't remember how his hair had been yesterday! I would have to wait until he spoke to me again before I could start to play the game.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry that this took so long!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Ouran! And I don't hate Kuma-Chan!**

**Chapter 6 – The Game**

"Good luck, Miyoko!" whispered Kita as we opened the door of Music Room 3 with a knowing glint in her eye.

"Yes, hope you can bond!" Fuiju added, giggling.

I knew this wasn't good. Had my 'I want to be like Tamaki' lie gotten around to the entire school? How did they even still believe it? It was the most stupid thing that I'd ever come up with. That was really something, considering all that I'd done over the past week.

Today, the Host Club was cosplaying in what looked like the dress of an old British King and noblemen. Why were they always dressing up in the most random of costumes? "Welcome!" they chanted as once again the pink flowers twirled around the door knob which I'd just opened.

"Hello again, my dear!" Tamaki gushed as usual, "You are truly my princess today! How I long to take only your hand and lead you away to a beautiful place where we could be alone together! Oh, it brings tears of joy to my eyes just thinking about it!"

I was mildly shocked that his eyes actually filled with tears as he said this. But I can't say that I was surprised. He really was always over the top.

"Oh, Tamaki!" I sighed in a sickly sweet tone, "You're a king today! But… doesn't that mean that we will never be allowed to be together?"

I blinked my eyes in a frenzy to try and make them tear. Either I was dehydrated, or somehow Tamaki was a better actor than me…

"Oh, my adorable princess!" he replied, tilting my head back as he always did, "Don't worry at all… even if I had to desert my kingdom, I will always be with you. Even if – "

"Alone time is up." Nerd-boy said, cutting Tamaki off.

"Aww!" I exclaimed, secretly relieved.

"Kyoya!" Tamaki scolded, "I was in the middle of that – "

"Next please!" he replied, ignoring Tamaki and motioning to the next insane customer, at last setting me free.

After pretending to act disappointed, I ran off and pretended to be extremely interested in the grand piano (who knew that they even had a piano in here?). When I was sure that none of the Hosts or their customers was watching, I climbed into the nearest closet in a corner of the room.

I nearly jumped straight back out into the open. Sitting on the shelf and staring at me was the dark silhouette of what I thought at first sight to be some kind of evil monster. After narrowly resisting the urge to scream by biting my lip hard, I realized on a close inspection that it was some kind of brown teddy bear. Did it belong to one of the hosts? Why on Earth was it there?

I waited, crouching in the closet for a very long time. Perhaps if I waited I could eavesdrop and find out two things – firstly, more secrets to tell Naoko and secondly, a way to tell those twins apart so that whoever-it-was would be quiet about it. After what seemed like an hour, I heard the customers leave. I was pretty sure that only the hosts remained in the room now.

My ear was getting splinters from leaning so close. I could just make out the sounds of someone talking.

"Kyoya!" the voice complained, "I cannot allow the influence of those two twins on my daughter any longer! Haruhi! Come and give daddy a hug!"

_What the? _I thought. _Did I mishear or something? How was any of those guys old enough to be Haruhi's dad? Wasn't he meant to be a guy anyway?_

Well, I had never believed that. He didn't even look like a man. I always knew that there was something wrong with those fangirls.

"No." someone who I assumed was Haruhi rejected flatly.

"What's wrong? Are you afraid of something? Daddy will give you his teddy bear to hug! That'll make you feel better, right?"

"No." Haruhi repeated, but I could already hear the footsteps edging closer amend closer towards me.

Instinctively, I ricocheted off the door and squashed myself even more into the dark corners of the cupboard. Whoever owned that scary teddy bear was obviously totally different in reality to the way that they acted around the fangirls. They were getting ripped off! I would have to tell Naoko immediately.

"Here you go, Haruhi!" the voice said cheerfully, opening the cupboard and reaching inside.

I found myself face to face with Tamaki. What was he doing opening the door? It was when I realized that the freaky brown bear which was intent on staring at me endlessly must have belonged to him. So he was the one who thought that he was Haruhi's father? And, just as I'd always suspected, Haruhi was defiantly a girl? What had I gotten myself into?

Tamaki just stared at me, dumb folded. He had obviously not expected one of the girls who he had 'entertained' just an hour ago to now be hiding in the Music Room's closet alongside his weird teddy bear. "Tamaki?" asked Haruhi from behind him. "What is it?"

"Has Kuma-Chan been kidnapped?" asked Honey fearfully. "Will they go after Usa-Chan, too?"

"No…" Tamaki replied, sounding very shocked.

Soon he was pushed to the side and the identical faces of the twins peered down at me. "Tono," they said in unison, "Why is one of your customers in the closet?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Tamaki said crossly.

"But…" Haruhi said thoughtfully, "Did she hear you saying about me? I mean my secret?"

"Errr…." Tamaki mumbled, turning towards me and looking very afraid.

"I thought that you were a girl anyway." I assured, trying to be helpful.

"Kyoya?" asked Tamaki, "What do we do?"

Kyoya stepped over and faced me with a slightly evil look in his eyes. I suddenly became very scared for the first time since I'd been discovered.

"We can't force you to keep Haruhi's secret." He said slightly menacingly, "But please bear in mind that my family has its own private police force and we can track you down if you tell or try to leave the country."

"Err, okay…" I stammered nervously, my hands suddenly becoming very cold.

"But aside from that, feel free to tell." He said cheerfully, losing the evil mastermind look and giving me a wide smile.

_So basically, I can't tell,_ I thought.

"How come you were in our closet anyway?" asked one of the twins suspiciously.

"Umm…." I mumbled, thinking fast, "I was just, um searching for a way to um, get to know you all better, and I um, got lost."

I noted that his hair parting was on the right side as he replied, "How can you get lost in a _closet?_"

He was onto me. But I couldn't remember which one Kita had said he was. "You know me," I laughed nervously, "I'm just really stupid."

"Hmm…" he hummed thoughtfully, looking sideways at his brother.

After making sure that none of the other hosts were watching, he leaned into my ear. "Have you guessed who I am yet?" he whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm sorry that this took so long! My internet died…**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Ouran High School Host Club!**

**Chapter 7- Game Over**

"What the?" I whispered, startled, "Are you stalking me?"

"Do you know who I am?" he repeated innocently, staring straight through me with his light brown eyes.

I rolled my eyes as I stared around at all of the other hosts, who had gotten on with their business. Honey was eating cake whilst Mori was watching, Kyoya was writing something in his little notebook, and Tamaki was chasing Haruhi around, holding out his teddy bear. Even his brother was sitting on one of the antique lounges, immersed in some sort of video game. Did he have no life? Was harassing me and making me as miserable as possible all that he cared about?

"No-one ever told me who you were in the first place, idiot." I pointed out, subtly edging closer and closer to my cupboard. "How am I supposed to tell if I had nothing to start off with?"

I was almost back in the door and into my sanctuary when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was my stalker. He opened his mouth to reply to my question but was interrupted by his brother. He had snuck over to see what we were talking about.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously, staring from me to whoever-it-was intently. "I'm bored by myself. Hurry up already. Have you two met before?"

"No!" we exclaimed in unison, springing apart in opposite directions, as far away from each other as was humanly possible.

Being the uncoordinated person that I was, I crashed straight into the closet which I'd been hiding in. "Eek!" I squealed as I bruised every bone in my body with the impact.

I could feel my cheeks reddening as all of the hosts stopped what they were doing and turned to see what was happening. I'm sure that they were all astounded at my stupidity. Who gets 'lost' in a closet and then falls back into it? Immediately, I jumped straight back up onto my feet. I'm sure that my cheeks were flaming. "Are you alright, Miyo-Chan?" Honey asked worriedly as they simultaneously rushed to help pick me up.

"Ummm…. I'm fine." I stuttered, my face flushed with embarrassment as I rubbed my multiple injuries. "Anyway, now that I've… found my way out I'll be going then. Thank you for helping me."

I turned around and headed towards the exit. I was finally given a chance to escape from the prying eyes of the Host Club! Unfortunately, I was so nervous and shaky as I headed to the door (which now seemed so far away) that I tripped over the rug and fell flat on my face. What was wrong with me today? I simply couldn't seem to be able to even stand without crashing onto something. I was sure to set a new world record for this. I'm sure that I was as red as a fire hydrant by the time that I eventually made it out the door (about twenty-three trips later). A twenty second journey had never felt so long.

Slamming the door shut, I turned to face the world outside the dreaded Host Club. As my eyes turned towards the welcoming crystal chandeliers, fancy wall paper and hand-crafted ornaments of the outside corridor, I breathed a long sigh of relief. I had finally returned to reality. It seemed like a lifetime since I had been in the (somewhat) ordinary world of Ouran Academy. I had survived the suspicions of the Host Club – though I'm pretty sure that they now thought I was the biggest idiot on earth. "Maybe I should retire from my 'job'." I muttered to myself as I leaned against the wall opposite the Host Club, all of my energy winded straight out of me. I was so exhausted after my sleepless night and all of the antics of the day which had occurred. I was not going to move from my wall for a very long time. I was so tired…

"Are you lost again?" asked a voice.

My eyes shot open in recognition. I must have fallen asleep outside. "Not you _again_." I groaned in frustration as I turned to face the person who had just spoken.

My theory was correct. As I suspected it was one of the twins yet again. I presumed that it was the one who had chosen to follow me around like a dog for the past week.

I stared at him, unable and reluctant to believe that he was poking his nose into my business for the second time that day. "You know, I think there's a law against what you're doing." I complained. "It's called stalking. My advice is that if you don't want to get a criminal record and a restraining order, leave me alone. It's called personal space."

"But this is fun," he replied, grinning, "Besides; you haven't won the game yet. I'm the one who gets to decide when the game ends"

Had he not listened to anything I'd been saying just twenty minutes ago? "Your 'game' is corrupt." I explained wearily, "I can't win. I don't even know either of your names."

Why did he expect me to remember the people in my classes' names? I could barely remember my own.

"I know," he stated in a matter- of-fact tone, "But you should really stop this you know. Imagine how Tono and the others would feel if they knew that you were trying to sabotage us. They're very fragile."

"I'm not doing anything!" I lied, trying to disguise the guilty look on my face.

"Oh please," he snorted, "You never struck me as the type who would go after Tono. And I saw you staring at me and my brother the other day. Kyoya-Sempai has guessed too, probably. He knows everything. Really, I'm just trying to protect you from what the club will do to you if they see you as a potential threat."

Fear swept over me like a tidal wave. Was I really that obvious? "I'm not lying," I stuttered, my mind filling with images of that police force that Nerd-Boy had said his family employed.

Would they really come after me? Surely he wouldn't do something that extreme.

"Well who are you then?" I asked, an idea popping into my head, "If you tell me who you are, then I'll tell you about this plan that you think I supposedly have."

"You have to win the game," he said as he had done many times before, "I'll figure out your plan easily anyway. All I have to do is ask Kyoya-Sempai if I get stuck."

_Must keep a straight face! _I told myself desperately as I tried not to look as afraid as I was. I wanted to run back to the safety of my old chess club, but that would seem way too obvious. I would have to stay here and fight for Naoko and the others.

I could hear footsteps approaching from inside the Host Club's room. "What's that noise?" I asked.

The door creaked slightly. Suddenly, Tamaki burst out of the door, looking very happy and animated. "Kaoru!" he called eagerly, jumping up and down excitedly (was he some sort of puppy?), "There you are! I've been looking for ages! Come and eat the peasant food that Haruhi just bought for us!"

For a moment we stood there in total silence, staring at each other in the deserted hallway, completely stunned. Then I started laughing in disbelief. Tamaki had just unknowingly ruined the 'game' to tell _Kaoru_ about his latest hare-brained obsession! "Damn it," Kaoru muttered under his breath.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry I've been so slow lately! I have finally gotten over my writer's block. Yay!**

**Thank you to the people who always review this story! It means a lot to me!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Ouran High School Host Club or any of the characters (except Miyoko)**

**Chapter 8- Decision **

The room was suddenly filled with a new silence. Everyone immediately began staring at us. We had just been caught in the act of negotiating. Aware that the entire club's eyes were now on me, I apprehensively began to fiddle with my little silver dragonfly necklace. "What are you two doing?" Tamaki asked, confused, his eyes glancing from me to Kaoru and back again.

For a moment we both just stared at him, shocked that with just one little word he had managed to ruin Kaoru's total plan. Then, the reality set in. I at last realized what I was being asked.

"Nothing!" I insisted hastily, "We were just talking about-"

"Clothing designs." Kaoru finished for me, creating a cover, "She's a fan of my mother's."

I was immensely grateful to Kaoru for saving my cover until I realized what he had just said. He looked slightly disconcerted as I gave him the evil eye subtly behind Tamaki's back. Why the hell would I ever be interested in clothes? _Particularly _ultra expensive designer ones. He was such a jerk.

I heard more shuffling from behind Tamaki and I stopped glaring menacingly with my deep green eyes at Kaoru and craned my neck, trying to see what was going on. Haruhi had come over to see what the commotion was. "What's wrong this time, Sempai?" she asked in a bored tone, clearly used to this sort of commotion.

As her chocolate eyes took in the sight of Kaoru and me standing guiltily together outside the door, they lit up in recognition. I felt a sudden flutter of dread. What did she think we were doing? She was smart, could she possibly have guessed also? Was I really that easy to figure out? "Are you switching over to request the twins, Miyoko?" she asked, completely oblivious to the trouble that she was about to cause.

"WHAT!" Tamaki shrieked, leaping into the air in pure shock, "She is switching over to… to…. THEM!Why would anyone do that when they could request me?"

Haruhi seemed to be surprised at his reaction. Obviously, she had not even contemplated the notion that he would be offended by this. Kaoru blinked in surprise as I found myself going bright red once more. "Huh?" I stumbled, puzzled, "No, of course not!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. Tamaki had disappeared from the open doorway. He had gone over to the far corner of the magnificent room. He was now sitting there in a bout of new mysterious darkness, twirling his finger along the ground in a sudden burst of depression.

"Umm?" I asked, confused as to why the other hosts were acting if this was the most normal thing to occur, "Shouldn't we comfort him?"

I found myself being ignored. No-one seemed to notice or care that he was now on what appeared to be the brink of suicide. "He's always like this," Kaoru replied from behind me, shrugging indifferently.

"Just go over there and tell him that you're not switching hosts." His twin – _Hikaru_ – added helpfully.

"You are though, aren't you? You're going to request us from now on?" they accused in unison, circling me in an extremely creepy way.

Their facial expressions looked positively evil. I was so terrified that I immediately insisted "No!"

Slowly, as not to frighten him, I edged my way over to Tamaki's corner of woe. "Umm… Tamaki-Sempai?" I tried timidly, tugging on his hunched blue jacket softly with one finger, trying to get his attention.

"What do you want?" he replied miserably, not turning around to look at me.

He continued to twiddle his fingers on the wooden floor in a dejected kind of way.

"I'm not requesting Hikaru and Kaoru," I continued, trying to sound reassuring, "My only love is… you?"

To begin with, there was silence. It seemed that his mind took a while to process this new information.

"Really?" he said, looking up at me with hopelessly happy eyes, fresh tears still etched into his cheeks.

He looked so much like a little lost puppy who had just been given its first ever bone. He could have one an animal cuteness contest with that face.

"Yes." I confirmed, somewhat dismally.

Why did I always have to act so weirdly? I hated having to pretend to be in love with him. He was so impossible to be with.

"I knew it!" he gushed, his violet eyes filled with a brand new sparkle as he stood up and grabbed my back afresh. "I knew you'd come back to my side! We shall love each other forever and ever, my princess! Thank you so much! How could I ever have believed that something would have come between us?"

His eyes were filled with new tears of gratitude. _Well, that was an unbelievably fast recovery, _ I thought.

"Tono," the twins said, clomping Tamaki on the back simultaneously, "Didn't she just betray you forever and ever, not be with you?"

"No." Tamaki insisted joyfully, his blond hair practically glowing with delight, "She would _never _do that."

"But that's contradicting yourself," they pointed out, clearly trying to provoke him again.

I could not believe that this guy could be so ultimately dense. Just two minutes ago, he'd been crouching in the corner, thinking that I'd betrayed him. He truly was the strangest person I'd ever met in my entire life.

"Why are you still here, anyway?" Hikaru asked, watching me stand in a crook of the room, unsure of what to do with myself.

I turned around, to face him. He seemed scared that I had now apparently stalked the host club for at least two entire hours.

"I'm just… enjoying the atmosphere." I said, madly inventing an idea. "But I should probably get going, shouldn't I?"

He nodded in recognition.

"Yeah probably," Kaoru agreed, stepping out of nowhere. "I'll show you to the front of the school. Knowing you, you'll probably get lost again."

I gave him a death glare for the second time that day as his twin blinked in confusion. He didn't understand why Kaoru was so interested in me. Well, I had to sympathize with him. Neither did I.

"I'm not an idiot, you know." I said irritably as I was being led down the corridor. "You don't have to hold my hand. I have gone to this school for a decade."

He didn't even bother moving his head. "If I did that, you'd just get lost," he replied grimly, gripping my hand even tighter than before, "Or probably, 'cause it's you, you'd run away."

"What sort of person do you think I am?" I scoffed, slightly hurt by his unkindness, "It's not my fault that you accidently lost _your own game."_

"Well," he said cunningly, at last turning around (but still holding my hand). "You haven't kept your side of the deal."

I stopped in my tracks. "What was 'my side of the deal'?" I asked nervously, genuinely baffled by his words.

"I told you who I am." He said, his amber eyes glinting, "You have to tell me your plan."

"What?" I complained, "That wasn't part of the deal."

"Well if you don't do it…" he said, turning his brown head in a childlike manner, "I guess I'll just have to tell the others. I'm sure that you won't mind, right?"

Was he blackmailing me? I found myself stuck. How could I tell him my plan and betray Naoko's trust? At the same time, how could I let him tell the host club about how I appeared to have an ulterior motive (though I'm pretty sure Kyoya knows)?

After a lot of hesitation, I decided that one person is better than six. "Alright," I hissed, lowering my voice to a whisper, "I'll tell you."

I pushed open the nearest door, which led to the empty classroom of 2-C. "In here, okay?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer- I don't own Ouran High School Host Club.**

**Chapter 9- Confession**

The door gave a slight thud as I slammed it firmly shut behind me. I was now standing in a classroom filled with upturned desks and elaborate furniture. The curtains were drawn, and as far as I could see, no students were in sight. I breathed a lengthy sigh of relief. The room of 2-C was completely empty. Remembering what I had to do, I turned to Kaoru and looked straight into his expectant eyes, noticing as I did so that they really were a lovely shade of amber. "So what is it?" he asked compellingly.

I sighed dramatically. "Come sit down." I ordered, slightly irritated that he was being so pushy. "This'll take us a while."

We sat down in two of the hard wooden chairs, in the second row of desks. I could feel myself going slightly pink as I prepared to tell him my secret. Man, this was going to be embarrassing to admit. I mean, it was the lamest thing I'd ever heard. Yet I was the one who was actually carrying the plan out. "Umm…" I started, unsure of how to put this, "You know I'm part of the Chess Club, right?"

"Yeah," he replied eagerly, confused. "What about it?"

I took a second to laugh inside at how excited he seemed to be. I guess that he was just glad that he had turned out to be right about my 'plan'. He probably believed that I had some master plan to rule the world, or something similar. I wasn't sure that he would even believe me. However, he was going to be so disappointed when he found out the truth. "Well, um, Naoko the President was concerned about how our club only has five members, and that out of all of us, I'm the only girl." I explained. "He wanted to discover how it is that the Host Club gets so many of the 'female population' to participate in their activities."

The smile vanished from his face and he started to look very, very scared. "I'm slightly afraid of where this is going to lead…" he admitted, his smile beginning to strain slightly.

"Yeah it is pretty bad." I agreed, grimacing, "Trust me. I did not want to do it. The only reason I agreed was so that Naoko would consider me as a candidate for the Presidency when he leaves. He's a third-year, you know."

"What didn't you want to do?" he asked, his anticipation revived with a new strange curiosity. "Why do you have to stalk Tono all the time now?"

His eyes lit up with an idea and right away his face darkened. "Are you trying to sabotage Tamaki?" he asked threateningly, struggling to keep his composure. "Stop, now. Tamaki is a great person. He doesn't deserve this."

"No, nothing like that!" I assured quickly.

The darkness faded, and he became grossly interested once again. "So, what is it, then?" he asked on a much happier note.

"Naoko asked me to pose as one of Tamaki's… fans to uncover how you manage to attract customers so well. You see, our club is really unpopular. Everyone at this school really seems to hate chess, or is unwilling to try it." I explained, "He wants more people to play chess in the library with us. Knowing him, he probably thinks that infiltrating you guys will be good for 'business'. He doesn't mean to hurt anyone at all."

I stood tall in the silence for over a minute, preparing myself for the horrors I'd be forced to go through as his revenge for hiding my plan from him and the Host Club. I heard a large thump and braced myself for the worst. At long last, I finally realized that nothing was happening at all. He didn't appear to be attacking me or beating me up. When I finally opened one eye, I discovered that Kaoru had fallen off his chair. Scanning around, I found him on the floor, doubled up. He was laughing.

"Hey!" I yelled in annoyance and embarrassment, "What's so funny? Do you know how horrible it's been, being forced to cope with that complete _idiot? _And on top of that, pretend to actually _like_ him?"

Kaoru kept laughing, oblivious to my shouts. He wasn't listening to my outburst at all. For a full five minutes I was forced to sit there and listen to his laughter, waiting for the moment when he'd finally regain his sanity and answer me. Eventually, he stopped laughing and looked up. "I'm sorry;" he apologized, still giggling, "but that's the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life. How is the _chess club _supposed to use our tactics to attract their customers? Most people who would ever join a chess club probably wouldn't be interested in our club anyway. Since it's a totally pointless threat, I won't bother telling Tamaki or the others. I'll just watch you guys fail miserably. Seriously… a host-chess club… your president sure is crazy! How did he come up with that?"

I opened my mouth to argue, but I was too late for him. He had stood up swiftly and begun making his way over to the exit of the vacant classroom which we were hiding in. I chased after him and pulled him back. "Hey, where are you going?" I asked, slightly irritated.

He blinked in astonishment at my question. "Back to the club, of course," he answered, as if it were totally obvious. "Hikaru will be wondering where I am. Besides, club activities haven't finished yet. Now let go of me. See you tomorrow, fangirl."

I could only watch as he sauntered out of the room. _That little – _I thought as I watched him wander back up the corridor to the host club. What a completely evil person! Just who did he think he was? He was the one who had made me tell him my plan, and then he'd just scoffed at it and left! What did he expect that I would do, just go home calm and satisfied with that reaction? If I had to tell him my plan, he could have at least waited for me! Why had he even payed me any attention to me in the first place if his precious _Host Club_ was all he cared about. Scowling, I could feel my cheeks growing hot with anger as I grabbed my school bag and headed out of the room to go home. I had given up.

When I arrived in the front gardens of Ouran, expecting to have to walk all of the way home, I found my sister searching frantically in the school grounds. "Miyoko!" she exclaimed the minute I emerged from the school building, looking instantaneously reassured, "Where were you? You didn't come home after school! You're three hours late home now! I was so worried! Did something happen?"

I opened my mouth to reply 'yes' but was soon stopped by my sister. She enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug that nearly winded me to my death. "Please stop it," I protested weakly, struggling to breathe. "I'm fine. I just got a bit lost. Don't worry about it."

Despite my efforts, my sister remained attached, refusing to let go. Sighing and with my new limpet of a sister still attached firmly around my waist, I climbed into the awaiting limousine. It had been a long day and I couldn't wait to get home.


	10. Chapter 10

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**Thank you to all the people who review this story! Please keep doing it, it helps me a lot!**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Ouran, though it is really awesome **

**Chapter 10- Presents**

The library was deathly quiet, just the way I always liked it. The books were neatly stacked on the old and dusty shelves. Comfortable reading chairs with floral patterns were situated in cozy looking corners of the area, producing an inviting and pleasant feel. The beautiful place gave me a sense of calm and belonging every time I went to report findings. I was here for my second session of revealing the shocking secrets of the Host Club. It had been a week since my first meeting with Naoko.

I found him at his usual place, sitting upright at his desk going over old tournament sheets. He was completely immersed in his work and hadn't heard me arrive. His eyes were frowning slightly in concentration and his neat black hair was freshly combed to the side as usual. I saw that there had been a tournament only two days ago and immediately felt a pang of jealousy. Why hadn't I been allowed to compete? That wasn't fair. I was still a valuable member of the club! It was under Naoko's orders, the President's, that I wasn't attending any meetings in the first place! Fuming, I jingled the small bell on his desk in order to gain his attention. Despite the fact that I was less than a metre away from his desk, he still hadn't taken his eyes off his work to look at me.

"Oh, Miyoko," he acknowledged finally, still totally immersed in his statistics, "Why have you found the need to come and see me today?"

"You told me to come here and give you the second report of findings after school had finished, President." I replied, finding it slightly odd that he had not remembered.

All was silent except the scratching of his pen on the paper as he evaluated mean scores. Why was he suddenly being so rude to me? He'd been the one to insist that I told him today anyway. "Well, what have you uncovered this time?" he asked, his voice remaining a monotone, although he did take of his glasses and polish them – a sure sign in Naoko-language that he was awfully excited about something.

I suppressed the urge to giggle as I thought about what to tell him. No matter what I told him, no matter how weird it was, he'd still act in his usual completely stoic manner. What was it about this guy that always made me want to crack up? He was the strangest and the most hilarious person that I had ever met in my entire life. No-one could even come close to his standards, not even Tamaki. He was even weirder than I was, and that in itself was a major achievement.

"The host club likes to engage in weird cosplay almost every day in order to entertain their customers. They dress in a variety of costumes from different eras of history." I reported seriously, "Tamaki is even bigger of an idiot than I thought he was before, and the whole entire club is evil and corrupted."

I admitted to myself that 'evil and corrupted' was probably a major exaggeration, but I was still angry about how Kaoru had manipulated me into telling him what my plan was. He had actually pretended to be interested in what I was doing. I had felt so threatened, and all that had happened was that he had been given a good laugh. Well, I was so glad to have made his day. In my opinion, that was pretty evil. Naoko, however, did not look at all phased or concerned by this horrible report. Obviously, he didn't care about how the methods were utilized; he just wanted to know what they were. "Interesting…" he replied thoughtfully, as he always did.

Polishing his glasses, he took out a sleek black biro and began copying down what I had said, word for word, on an official looking piece of notepaper. His handwriting was neat, small and pointy. He was taking this whole infiltration thing incredibly seriously. "Anything else?" he asked as he wrote down my points next to last week's game results.

"No." I said simply, staring out of the window behind his desk to avoid answering in further detail.

I didn't want to tell him about how I had been found out. He would probably be mad. I pretended to be very captivated by the weather conditions outside the window. It was raining heavily. I watched silently as the droplets trickled down the window and created strange patterns as they hit the newly lain patch of cement far below. A new gazebo was being constructed in the school grounds. The workmen hadn't put the roof on yet, so the entire structure was an easy target for the incoming rain drops. Vaguely, I wondered why on Earth that there had been no trace of the gazebo yesterday.

I was sitting at my desk the next morning when Fuiju and Kita approached me, looking exceedingly over excited by something that they had done or were planning. I noticed that their eyes now contained a brand new mad glint of ultra happiness in each separate pupil. A wave of anticipation crossed with fear swept through me instantly. What exactly did they want to do? More significantly, how did they want me to be involved in it? Whispering and giggling hysterically, they pointed at me and started walking over. I pretended to be immersed in last night's French homework as they came closer and closer to my desk. I was very afraid of what they were planning to do.

"Guess what, Miyoko!" Kita exclaimed gleefully.

A gigantic smile was plastered all over her face. I felt the hairs on the back of my head stand up at the very sight of her wild grin.

"I don't know." I replied dismissively."Hey, the science homework was so hard, wasn't it?"

Attempting to send her ESP messages frantically, I was desperately attempting to change the subject. Unfortunately, my hints didn't help at all. "It's Mori-Sempai's birthday tomorrow!" she continued, not even registering what I was talking about.

In her excitement, she jumped up and down hyperactively like a demented bunny rabbit. Fuiju also opened her mouth, determined to increase my enthusiasm for the prospect. "We're going to help her choose the perfect gift after school today!" she added, her voice going high and squeaky with excitement over the idea. "It's going to be so much fun!"

"You don't mind not skipping the Host Club for one day, do you?" Kita asked.

She had ceased the ectastic hopping and was now standing whilst sporting a serious expression. Her face looked so concerned and hopeful that I couldn't bring myself to reject her. I was glad of a reason to avoid Tamaki for a day anyway. I'd been stuck with him for nearly two weeks after school. I desperately needed a break. He was seriously getting on my nerves. "Yeah, shopping!" I squealed, trying to convey the impression that I was also super eager, although aside from pretending to be a fangirl, shopping was the top of my hate list.

"Yay!" she replied ecstatically, enveloping me in a bone-crushing hug.

Squealing at the top of their voices, my two new friends leaped up and down animatedly. Stuck in between them, I was struggling to breathe in the severe crush. I never knew that people could be so thrilled about shopping. Fangirls had a strange life.

The very second that the final bell had ended and classes were over for the day, Fuiju and Kita whisked me away at the speed of light to a sleek pink limousine waiting at the front entrance of the school. They pushed me inside roughly in their excitement. Clambering in themselves, they began jiggling excitedly in their seats. "Oh, I can't wait!" Kita gushed, fishing out a two metre long list from her school bag. "Here are all of the things that I thought we could possibly get for him. I wrote them down, so there was no chance of me forgetting."

My eyes widened at the sheer size of her list. The list must have had around a hundred dot points in girly blue handwriting. How many things was she planning to buy for him? I had a bad feeling about this trip. "That's so long!" I noted, trying to keep the despair out of my voice.

They looked at me as if I had just said that the list was made of green fishcakes. Why did I automatically feel as if I had committed the ultra crime of the century? "You can never take too long shopping, Miyoko," Fuiju advised wisely, shaking her head sadly at my ignorance.

Leaning across two leather seats to see the list, I glanced at the first item – a fancy Christmas decoration for his tree. I gulped in disbelief. She certainly hadn't wanted to miss any possibilities when it came to birthday present buying. Sighing quietly to myself, I stared out of the car window as we drove away from Ouran, preparing myself for the trip ahead. I had been given the impression that we would be out for quite a while.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran or the characters, except for Miyoko, whose secret passion is soon to be unearthed! XD**

**PS. I know that the prices would be in yen, but I don't know how much it's worth so I used Australian dollars (cos I'm Australian…). SORRY! I'll just say that a normal bottle of water would be around $2.50…)**

**Chapter 11- Shopping**

Standing dejectedly, I watched Kita and Fuiju run around the designer clothing store as spastically as two puppies set loose in the pantry. They were whizzing around, picking up new revolting items of clothing to add to their ever-growing piles everywhere they went. I was certain that shopping with a bunch of fangirls was the new gateway to hell. My feet were aching in my black school shoes and I was sure that my eardrums had burst from the amount of squealing going on. I had fiddled with my dragonfly necklace for what seemed like decades to relieve my boredom. My clever tactic was no longer working. As I watched my two friends going hyper over a pair of polka-dot socks I realized that I was no longer simply bored. I was scared.

"Miyoko!" Kita called excitedly.

Her voice was so high with excitement that I was surprised that the windows didn't shatter with the impact of the pitch. She skipped over to where I was standing, in a secluded and unnoticed corner of the shop by the dress shoes display. "Do you like this suit?" she asked earnestly, her eyes glistening with anticipation.

The suit consisted of an electric blue shirt covered by a purple pinstriped jacket and pants. To top off the outfit, the pink polka dot socks which they had been scrutinizing earlier were included in the attire. It was the ugliest combination of colours that I had ever laid my eyes on in my entire life. "Will he like it?" Fuiju added desperately, also pinning her hopes on my answer.

"Umm… sure!" I reassured, smiling.

A wave of relief swept over me as I realized that we had finally finished. I was so desperate to get out of that shop that I would have said absolutely anything to make us leave a little earlier. Unfortunately for me, my comment made them even more hyper. Immediately, they both started jumping up and down, shrieking louder than ever before. "Yes, it's perfect!" they exclaimed in unison, zooming so fast over to the cash register that I barely saw them move.

It was as if they had teleported from one side of the shop to the other.

"This one please," Kita chirped merrily as she handed over the atrocious suit to the attendant as well as her shiny new credit card.

Fuiju bounced back over to me and hooked my arm with hers. "C'mon, Miyoko!" she babbled happily as she pulled me out of the shop, "Birthday card next! Kita wants to get one of those singing ones! Oh! We should get some chocolate as well! It's like, girl _law _to buy boys chocolate on their birthdays!"

I was confident that it was not girl law to buy chocolate, though I supposed that I'd never done it before so I wouldn't have a clue. I sighed. These girls didn't know when to stop. _How much money do they want to spend?_ I thought as I was whisked away. _They sure have bought a lot already. Maybe I'm just a cheapskate though…_

My sister had always nicknamed me 'the miser', although I'd never known why. I guess that I was finding out why now. I hated shopping of any form (except book and stationary shopping). Expensive stuff was my personal pet hate.

Finally I had managed to escape the two puppies and sneak into the book shop. I reasoned that if I had to go around doing what Kita and Fuiju desired, then I had the right to choose at least one thing that I wanted to do. Feeling my pulse rising, I nearly ran over to the new releases section. I was super excited. Although I absolutely hated to admit it, being the tomboy that I was, I had a secret passion for drippy blockbuster romances. They were just so satisfying. I loved the stories, the characters, and the endings – basically, I loved everything about them. Ever since I was seven years old, I had suffered from this terrible addiction. Grinning madly, I examined the rows of glossy books. I was searching for a specific book which had come out only two days ago. I smiled in delight as I found what I was looking for – the latest mushy romance by my favourite author ever. For a moment I simply admired the beautiful lurid pink design on the front cover. Soon, however, I had opened the book eagerly and begun to read. Soon, I was immersed in the embarrassing, but so _awesome_ story of 'Love on the Sakura Hill'.

Kita and Fuiju caught up to me as I was reading on the wall outside the bookshop (I'd bought the book earlier). "What are you reading?" Kita asked curiously, leaning over to look at the front cover.

"Nothing!" I assured, hastily shoving the book into my bag before they could see the title.

I refused to let even a pair of fangirls know about my secret addiction. If they told someone – _anyone_ – then I would be dead meat. If the news got out that I was in love with romance novels, I'd be the laughing stock of the chess club, let alone the class. My status as a chess nerd had already fallen enough. "Where to next?" I asked, determined to change the subject.

"Umm…" Kita said, staring at me oddly, "Well, I thought we could buy a singing card…"

After seven hours of non-stop shopping (you would not believe how long it takes to find a gigantic singing birthday card), it was so late that we stopped at a restaurant for dinner. It was an Italian place. The interior was set up to look like a French restaurant (so that customers could enjoy 'Two European Countries in one!' according to the brochure) with even a small Eifel Tower placed in the centre of the room like a strange metal Christmas tree. French folk songs blasted out of the loud speaker, meaning that it was very difficult to hear anything unless you shouted at the top of your lungs. It was so extraordinarily expensive that even a simple bottle of water cost thirty dollars. "So what is the Host Club doing for Mori-Sempai's birthday?" I shouted, praying that it wouldn't be something too outrageous.

"A garden party!" Fuiju yelled happily. "Tamaki-Sempai says that when commoners have a party, they go to these… commoner public park places and have parties in special commoner gazebos. So that's what's happening. We're having a commoner's party!"

_So that's what that gazebo was for… _I realized, twirling my straw._ Wouldn't it be more authentic if they actually held it in a park?_

"Tamaki-Sempai wanted to hold it in a real commoner's park, so that we could have extra authenticity and enjoyment," Kita continued, unknowingly answering my question, "But the school wouldn't let us. They said that it was too dangerous and that a real commoner's gazebo could be unhygienic or even worse."

"What a shame," I sympathized, not really listening.

Out of the far corner of my eye, I had spotted a familiar figure. My mind filled instantly with dread. It was one of the twins, although once again I had forgotten which one. What was wrong with me? _Did Hikaru or Kaoru part their hair on the left side? _I wondered, craning my neck to get a better look whilst subtly making sure that he didn't see me.

Unluckily for me, Fuiju had also spotted the twin. Her eyes sparkled. Standing up excitedly, her dark hair fanned in waves upon her back. I felt my heart sink like a stone. Why did she have to get his attention?

"Hi!" she shouted, towing the twin towards our table by the arm. "Come and sit with us!"

He looked very surprised as she plonked him down roughly in the empty seat next to me. "Umm…" he yelled, "I should probably go back. Kaoru's gone to the bathroom and he won't know where I've disappeared to."

So it was Hikaru. I felt relieved. I did not want to see Kaoru. "Don't worry! We'll just ask him over here when he comes out!" Kita exclaimed.

Sinking down even further in my chair, I groaned silently to myself. Why did _he _have to be here as well? Life wasn't fair.

After about two minutes, we heard a flush. Sure enough, Kaoru soon emerged from the adjacent men's bathroom. "Kaoru!" Hikaru called, as he glanced around the room having noticed the absence of his twin, "I'm over here."

He spotted us and started walking over, looking slightly confused as to why his brother was sitting with a bunch of fangirls. As he approached, I made sure to give him my very best death glare, leaving him slightly unnerved. My death glares are powerful things. As he went to steal a nearby chair, I stopped him. "Have mine," I offered, standing up swiftly. "I'm going to the bathroom."

He appeared to be somewhat annoyed as I escaped from that table as fast as I could. I needed to get away from him. Not looking back, I headed straight into the girl's bathroom. I had to finish 'Love on the Sakura Hill' anyway.

By the time I eventually returned to the table, the brothers were gone. Their entire family had left the odd restaurant. As we ate, I only gazed vaguely at the mini Eifel Tower and listened as Kita ranted on and on about everything that she was going to give Mori-Sempai on his birthday. She was so excited that I didn't even care that the bill for the dinner eventually came to two thousand dollars. I had bigger things to worry about.


	12. Chapter 12

**After so many chapters of ramble, this story is finally getting somewhere! Yippee! Sorry if it's been kinda slow… (I am a world expert on the art of the ramble XD)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran, though it is awesome (: **

**Chapter 12: The Party**

For some reason the Host Club had managed to move the twirling sakura petals from the club room door to the opening of a gazebo in the middle of the school grounds. These people really thought of everything.

I was on the school grounds, surrounded by an endless array of hectic fangirls. Each was sporting a handful of brightly wrapped presents in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Beside me, Kita and Fuiju were giggling manically with delight.

"Let's go!" they said determinedly, leaving me with a burdening feeling.

I could only watch as they pushed themselves to the front of the squealing crowd, sending fangirls sprawling left and right in their wake. Sighing, I sat down wearily in one of the supposedly "commoner" chairs (which probably cost around three hundred dollars each).By merely watching, I was already exhausted as the fangirls fought like wild animals in order to reach Mori first. I covered my ears protectively. The noise was excruciating.

In true commoner style, the hosts were wearing a wide variety of multi coloured party hats. Helium balloons in the form of love hearts were placed at strategic points around the gazebo. A gigantic cake in three fancy tiers lay royally on a small white table. I half expected it to collapse with the amount of stress placed on it by the monstrous cake. By this time, Mori was totally surrounded by a great mountain of gifts. I estimated it to be around five metres high and seven metres wide. It was a major wonder that he could even breathe in there.

"Aren't you going to see Tono?"

I froze. It was Kaoru.

"You did request him, right?" he asked innocently, feigning ignorance about my plan.

"Yeah," I replied quickly, jumping up to leave. "I'll be going then."

I stumbled over the grass in my impatience to escape him. My eyes began watering, both from the pain and the surprise encounter. For the past week, I had managed to avoid him completely, even in class and the Host Club. Why ad my clever plan ceased to work? I didn't even understand why I cared about it so much anyway. So what if he had turned out to be a plain jerk? It wasn't as if I'd never met one before. I was a strange person. Gritting my teeth, I continued to walk away.

Tamaki was entertaining his guests in the antique gazebo, far away from the chairs and Kaoru (he'd had the gazebo dismantled, flown in and put back together for the purpose of this event). How exactly this was in the 'commoner style' was completely beyond me. Shrugging, I ascended the marble stone steps. _At least Tamaki will be happy to see me. _I thought miserably as I sat down with the other girls, _He's weird, but I think he loves all of his fangirls. _

As he was entertaining some other poor girl, I sat placidly in the queue. There were about four fangirls in front of me. Deep in thought, I wondered about this idea as I waited for my turn. Was this what Kaoru was talking about when he had said that I could hurt Tamaki? _No!_ I told myself sternly, shaking my head firmly.

I didn't want to think about him.

"My princess!" Tamaki gushed, his violet eyes glittering with enthusiasm. "Are you enjoying the party? Did you know that commoners have these sorts of parties all the time?"

"Of course I am!" I exclaimed, fawning. "But… I would have preferred it if it was just the two of us, Tamaki-Sempai."

"Don't worry, my dear," he assured, leaning in close and taking hold of my hands, "Next week, I'll sweep you away and take you to our very own private commoner's party."

The fangirls beside me shrieked excitedly. I tried my best to do the same. Although I was still getting the hang of this squealing thing, I'm positive that Tamaki was convinced that it was authentic.

After about twenty minutes of what was, for me, pure anguish (I was trying to avoid Kaoru and control myself in front of Tamaki at the same time), Honey bounced up to the gazebo, his brown eyes gleaming in excitement. Even more little flowers were floating around his head than usual.

"Takashi is going to cut his cake now, Tama-chan!" he revealed breathlessly.

He looked so animated that it was as if it was his birthday, not Mori's. Leaping about, he skipped off back to the action. I suspected that he really, really wanted a slice (or two…) of that cake.

"Coming, Honey-Sempai!" Tamaki replied joyfully, his face lighting up, "Let's go, my princesses. I promise that you will all have the biggest slices available!"

Enthusiastically, he gracefully led each and every one of his customers over to the white table. Girls were already filing up for the first slice of the cake. After all, Mori had cut it with his own hands. Smirking, I observed that Honey had already taken the prime spot right before the cake itself. Whatever happened to ladies first?

Eventually, it was my turn. Tamaki offered me his hand.

"No thanks." I refused politely.

"Aren't you going to have a slice?" he asked, hurt, "The top two layers are pavlova and lamington. Kyoya had them shipped in from a top chef's kitchen, all the way in Australia."

"I don't really like cake much." I replied, disinterested. "So, what's in the first layer?"

"A special vanilla cake with strawberry icing made especially by Haruhi!" he answered proudly like an over affectionate parent, "I told her that it would give the cake a special commoner feel! I can't wait to try my adorable little girl's cooking!"

He bustled off over to the unsuspecting Haruhi, who was gazing at the clouds, zoned out. "Haruhi!" he called, enveloping her in an enormous hug, "Can I have the first taste of your cake?"

"No." she replied shortly, sending Tamaki instantly into his emo corner.

As soon as he was out of the way, the twins placed a hand each on Haruhi's shoulders.

"Can we have the first taste of your cake, Haruhi?" they asked, grinning slyly.

I jumped behind the gazebo to listen in to the conversation. I didn't want Kaoru to see me. Cautiously, I peeped around the swirling pole to find out what was going on. "No way," she replied cuttingly, "You should know that the cake is for the guests."

"But we want to try the commoner cake!" they grumbled in unison.

"You can have the scraps," she replied firmly. "If there's any left _after _the guests have had some_._"

I laughed discreetly. Haruhi was an expert. She knew exactly how to handle the strange whims of the hosts.

Crouched in my ultra secret hiding place, I was fairly certain that no-one would find me. However, I'd never been an expert at hide and seek. "Why are you hiding behind the gazebo? Does Tono annoy you that much?" asked a voice behind me.

"Eeek!" I yelped loudly, nearly jumping out of my own skin.

Turning around wearily, I saw that it was Kaoru. What was he doing here? He had made it plain that he thought I was ridiculous. Why did he keep stalking me? "You freaking scared me." I complained shakily, my heart continuing to beat at a phenomenal rate. "How did you even find me?"

"No offence, but you're not exactly the best hider," he explained.

"_None taken_." I replied sarcastically, rubbing my head from where I'd bumped it on the pole.

"You alright?" he asked, sounding worried. "Do you need a doctor?"

"I'm fine." I said dismissively, "No thanks to _you_, though."

Still trembling, I brushed the dirt of my dress (I'd slammed to the floor in my fear) and hoisted myself up. "Sorry for causing trouble as usual." I apologized quickly, "I'll be going now."

I began to walk away again. Was it just me or was a pattern beginning?

"Wait," he said suddenly, clutching the yellow hem of my school dress.

I turned around in surprise. I'm sure that my expression was one of shock. "Why have you been avoiding me?" he asked, sounding authentically confused.

"I haven't been." I insisted, lying through my teeth.

"Come and join the celebrations," he suggested happily, "I'm telling you, Haruhi is the best cook around. Don't let her commoner looks fool you!"

Before I could protest, he hoisted me out into the open. "Tono!" he called cheerfully with me in reluctant tow, "You should keep a better eye on your customers! This one here has an appalling sense of direction!"

Tamaki looked shocked and upset at this cutting comment. Beaming, Hikaru decided to add to his pain. "Shame on you Tono," he scolded, shrugging his shoulders sadly, "What kind of host are you, letting your customer get lost? That is just shameful!"

"What?" Tamaki objected angrily, "I would never do that to my precious guests!"

"You lost one of your guests, Tamaki-Sempai?" Haruhi asked, shaking her head in mock despair, "I thought better of you…"

"Don't believe them, Haruhi!" he pleaded desperately, becoming even more agitated by the second, "Daddy… Daddy would never lose one of his customers!"

_This party is turning out weirder than I expected, _I thought to myself as I laughed for the first time in days.

H


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello again! Sorry for the lateness ):… Hope you like this chapter! I'm doing my best not to ramble as much… tho it's not working XD**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Ouran or the characters (:**

**Chapter 13- Library**

After the birthday party, my school life turned back to normal. Well, as normal as life could be when the Host Club was involved.

I was in the library at lunchtime, enjoying the wonderful stuffy atmosphere and dim lights as the rest of the world suffered outside in the comfortable glow of the sun. Soon I would be playing chess.

"Come on." I ordered Kaoru excitedly, pulling him away from the section containing girl's romance fiction (my regular haunt), "It's over here, you idiot. Have you never been here before?"

"Nope," he replied simply, gazing around in awe at the comfortable little place.

I scowled, rolling my eyes. Why did people not realize the true beauty of a place like this?

"Hurry up then." I complained impatiently, "We only have forty five minutes left."

As we bustled over to a small table, my cheeks flushed pink with happiness. After nearly an entire week of persistent nagging, I had finally coaxed Kaoru into playing chess with me. I was majorly pumped up and ready to annihilate him without mercy.

"I thought that you were going to invite the others too," he grumbled miserably as he sat down on his side of the wooden board. "I wanted to be in a team with Hikaru."

"They refused to come." I told him, arranging the pieces of my favourite set with loving care, "Kita and Fuiju especially. No idea why…"

For some strange reason he didn't look at all surprised. He muttered something under his breath which sounded like 'Why was I so stupid?'. I knew that this could not be true. Who didn't like chess?

"Well anyway," I continued, "Let's go."

My colour was white, so I went first. Rubbing my hands together, I prepared for the first move of the game. I knew exactly what to do because I had been planning this very moment all week. In fact, I had already decided my first ten moves. It had been so long since I'd been able to enjoy a game of chess. With undying affection, I pushed my favourite pawn gently across the board. The first action was set. Our game had begun.

After forty minutes of expert chess, we were still at it. Kaoru had turned out to be an unexpectedly good player, but I was slowly pulling him in for the kill. He looked disconcerted as my menacing and determined smile bore down at him. My evil smile always arose during a close chess match, particularly when I was going to win. Sweating slightly, he pushed his horse nervously across the board, exactly as I had planned. I had him now.

Grinning, I picked up my queen and prepared for my long awaited victory. I was going to –

The shrill tone of the school bell rang throughout the deserted library, cutting off my plans cruelly. Instantly, Kaoru stood up from his seat and began packing up my master plan.

"Too bad, fangirl," he said eagerly, sounding almost relieved. "Let's get to class."

He shuffled the little pieces into a white thread bag as my smile faded.

"What?" I groaned, disappointed, "But I was winning!"

"No you weren't," he insisted.

He was pretending to not know what I was talking about. There were two things which I couldn't stand: firstly, being interrupted in the middle of a chess game and secondly people pretending that they hadn't lost. Today, both of those offences had been committed and I was boiling mad.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I shouted angrily, cutting off the small doorway.

"Hey," he complained, trying to push me out of the way, "We're going to be late for class."

"As if _you_ would care about that!" I snarled, stomping on his toe, "Besides, we are not leaving until you admit that you lost!"

Sighing, he shrugged his shoulders in defeat.

"Fine, I lost. Now let's get out of here."

" Hooray! I won!" I exclaimed, bouncing along in glee to the class of 1-A with a spring in my step.

"Kaoru!"

The minute that we walked into the crowded classroom, a hyper animal wearing an Ouran High uniform enveloped Kaoru in a massive hug. It was Hikaru.

"It's been so long!" he exclaimed.

"Hikaru," Kaoru replied, slightly muffled, "It's been forty five minutes."

"What happened to you?" his brother asked tearfully.

"I was under hostage." he replied, pointing at me. "She was holding me captive."

The entire class gasped in disapproval. "Miyoko?" Kita asked doubtfully, on the verge of sobs, "Why did you do that to poor Kaoru?"

"What about Tamaki-Sempai?" Fuiju added, blowing her nose hysterically, "Your host! He deserves better than this!"

They shook their heads simultaneously, distraught. What had Kaoru done?

"It's nothing!" I insisted hurriedly, gulping, "He's lying. I asked him to play chess with me today and he said yes. _That's all_."

Their expressions softened. "Okay then." Kita said cheerfully.

"Who knew that Kaoru was interested in chess?" Fuiju added.

The entire class laughed except for the small group of Kaoru fangirls who were giving me death stares. Why could I not do anything at all without people getting suspicious and hating me? I was not finished with him.

It was the afternoon, and I was in the host club crammed in a queue of girls waiting for their turn with Tamaki. Checking to see if anyone was looking at me, I ducked out of the queue and snuck over to where the twins were entertaining their customers with another weird display of twincest. Kaoru was pretending to cry. I wondered how long you had to practice to be able to fake cry as I waited. Finally, the act ended. Without warning, I walked boldly up to Kaoru and punched him swiftly in the gut, sending him flying. The fangirls and Hikaru gasped, but I paid no attention whatsoever.

"You jerk!" I cried.

He doubled over and clutched his stomach.

"What did I do?" he wheezed in annoyance.

"You said that you would be happy to play chess with me!" I exclaimed, feeling deceived, "You could have just said no like everyone else did!"

"Fine," he sighed dismissively, as if I was a burden. "I hate chess. Happy?"

I shook my head, aware that the other hosts and customers were watching my outburst. I didn't want to deal with their stupid gossip.

"Come outside." I ordered.

"What is it?" he asked once we were in the hall corridor outside the club.

Looking incredibly bored, he leaned against the wall. Was I really that predictable?

"I don't like liars." I said unkindly.

"I kinda realized that, you know," he pointed out, folding his arms.

"Shut up." I told him, staring straight into his amber eyes so I would not be deceived. "You lied to me. Therefore, you will play chess with me every day for a month to make it up."

"You are so mature," he replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

My faced flushed in a cross between embarrassment and anger. I prepared to punch him again.

"I don't care." I said simply, "I need a new chess partner anyway. Do you want me to punch you again?"

Running his long fingers through his hair, Kaoru decided to go with the safer option.

"Fine," he replied halfheartedly.

My eyes lit up in pure happiness. He had said yes!

"Yippee!" I exclaimed merrily, leaping in excitement, "CHESS!"

Missing my footing, I crashed to the ground, nearly tearing my school dress at the back. Somehow I managed to bruise every possible thing to be bruised. Kaoru laughed at my sad and now disheveled appearance.

"You are such a fangirl," he teased, shaking his head.

**WHOOT! Finally done! Next chapter will hopefully be quicker!**

**BTW, I majorly suck at chess XD (random comment…)**

**If Miyoko versed me, I would die (:**H


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello everyone! I can't believe that I've made it this far! (: Usually my stories only last for two chapters before they are forgotten about entirely… Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran XD**

**Chapter 14- A Strange Feeling**

Kameko stared bewilderedly at me when I came home from school that day. I was so hyper that I was practically shaking with exhilaration. The prospect of chess every single school day was simply overwhelming.

"Miyoko?" she asked, frowning perplexedly. "Are you okay?"

"Fine!" I chirped happily, skipping up the stone front steps.

"You seem rather… happy."

I couldn't believe that she was actually concerned about this. Wasn't it supposed to be a good thing that I was enjoying myself?

"How many times do I have to tell you?" I sighed, patting her on the shoulder kindly on my way inside, "There's no need to worry about me. I'm perfectly alright."

Kicking off my clodhopper school shoes, I immediately began working through my homework. Although it was strange, I found doing homework really satisfying. It helped me get my head around things in a weird way which I couldn't explain. Besides, I was determined to beat Haruhi in the next school exams. My bedroom was silent as I started writing my long Japanese essay; my mind was full of Monday's chess game.

"I will win this time!" I declared openly, clenching my fist in determination.

Furiously, I sped wrote through my work, rambling about the way I was positioned by the text and so on.

After three rounds of chess, in each of which I thoroughly creamed my big sister, I was certain of my upcoming victory. I would defeat him this time, whatever it took.

"Wow, Miyoko," Kameko complimented cheerfully, clearing the table for dinner, "You're really good at this."

"Really?" I asked, touched.

"Yes," she confirmed firmly, handing me a stack of white china plates, "Now put these on the table. Two of the servants came down with the flu, so we're short staffed tonight."

Heaving a sigh, I followed her obediently and placed my plates neatly on the long, deserted dining table. It was always so empty nowadays. We sat down as the maidservants arrived carrying our meals in their hands.

"Enjoy, mistresses," they told us in unison, bowing deeply before heading back to the kitchen.

"Thank you very much!" my sister called gratefully, "It looks great!"

Smiling at me uncertainly, she motioned for me to begin eating. Bored, I fingered with my dragonfly necklace as my sister and I ate our dinner in silence.

I had been practicing chess since five a.m. that Sunday morning. When it was half past nine, I was interrupted by one of the maids. She was holding out a silver phone receiver.

"Miss Miyoko, your friend had asked for you," she explained gladly, handing me the phone.

"Oh," I answered in surprise, wondering who this friend was, "I'll take it,"

I put the phone to my ear, only for it to be deafened by a high-pitched squeal that was very familiar. It was Kita, and from the sound of it, she'd been shopping.

"Hi, Miyoko!" she exclaimed loudly, causing me to hold the phone out at arm's length to avoid bursting my eardrums, "Guess what?"

"What?" I asked wearily.

"I have a surprise for you!" she shrieked elatedly.

"Oh… thank you," I replied bluntly.

"I'll give it to you tomorrow!" she squealed, before hanging up the phone.

_Well that was strange,_ I thought, staring at the now dead receiver, at a loss as to what had just happened.

Kameko decided that she was going to take me to a function for a possible buyer of my family's software company. I had moaned and objected profoundly, but she had insisted. My sister could be incredibly forceful when she wanted to.

"Why do _I_ have to go?" I complained, dragging my feet halfheartedly.

"Don't grumble, Miyoko," she scolded firmly as we climbed into the limousine. "If these people do buy our company, then you need to make a good impression on them. You may be working for them one day after all."

The car's engine slowly hummed to a start as we began reversing along the sandstone driveway.

"Mother and Father can get me any job I want when they come home," I pointed out.

"Yeah, and what will that be?" she asked, sounding stressed as she frantically patted down her already perfect brown hair. "A professional chess player? They couldn't manage that, Miyoko. There's only so much they can do to help you. I'm really worried, you know."

I rolled my eyes. Why was my sister always like this? It was seriously annoying.

"For the millionth time, don't worry about me!" I shouted, losing my temper. "Worry about yourself!"

I could feel the eyes of the occupants in cars around us staring at me. I had shouted so loud that the sound had escaped the car. I sat down and tried to pretend like nothing had happened at all.

"But F –, "she began, her eyes welling with tears.

"Can we go faster please?" I ordered the chauffer, cutting my sister off before she could answer with one of her irritating motherly ideas about my wellbeing.

I should have _known_. This party was hosted by the Suoh Corporation. Why did these things always happen to me? Was it merely a coincidence that the possible buyer for our business happened to be the _Tamaki's_ family company, of all possibilities?

"Look, it's Miyo-chan!" a high-pitched voice from behind me exclaimed happily.

It was Honey. I groaned in despair. To top of this night of bothersome coincidences, the entire _Host Club_ (bar Haruhi, of course) was also present at this stupid function. I supposed that they all did own important companies, but why did they seem to follow me whenever I went out of the house?

"Why are you here Miyo-chan?" Honey asked me, clinging on to my shoulders.

I was too busy attempting to shake him off as subtly as possible to register that he had asked me a question.

"Yes, why are you here?" Kyoya repeated curiously, closing his black notebook. "I know that the Suoh Corporation is thinking of purchasing the Takaki Company, but I would never have assumed that it be necessary for you to attend a function like this."

With one last shove, Honey finally let go of my shoulders. Clearing my throat, I began to answer.

"Well, my older sister, Kameko –"

"Miyoko?" Tamaki interrupted stridently, appearing out of nowhere. "Why are you here?"

Like the idiot he was, he had just inadvertently disrupted the answer to his own question. I rolled my eyes at the irony of the situation. There was no way that I was going to attempt to answer that stupid question again. Tamaki was out of luck.

It seemed like business as usual for the Host Club, even at a major function between our families. Honey was going hyper, Mori was staring into space and Kyoya was calculating something. The only difference in the situation was that firstly, Tamaki had gone off somewhere with his father and secondly, the twins were nowhere to be seen at all. In a way, I found the Host Club to be somewhat familiar and comforting – I was stuck in a ballroom with a bunch of random important people, and I was being made to wear an ugly green dress. It was nice to have something there that wasn't totally out of the ordinary.

"Kyoya, where's Tono?" Hikaru asked in a bored tone. Obviously, he had just arrived at the party.

"His father wanted to introduce him to some company owners," he replied at once, not looking up from his notebook.

"That's not fair," he complained grumpily, "We were planning on playing a prank on him…"

After a few minutes of sighing he saw me standing next to Honey.

"Hey why are you here?" he asked, confused.

"I have been asked that question at least three times tonight," I told him plainly, "I'm not going to tell you."

He looked momentarily disappointed before scaning the crowd and grabbing hold of his passing brother from the sea of well dressed people.

"Kaoru, Tono's not here," he told him sadly.

Kaoru shrugged.

"Oh well," he replied before turning towards to me, "Why are you here?"

I was struck dumb.

"Ummm…." I stuttered nervously.

He was staring at me with his amber eyes, waiting expectantly for my answer. But for me, it was if I had never noticed how extraordinarily beautiful those eyes were. I couldn't even tell him that I wasn't answering that question - I was too busy admiring how handsome he looked in his black suit. All of a sudden I was remembering how nice he had always been to me, although I was too stupid to realize it. My entire face began to burn fiercely with strange emotions. Both brothers stared quizzically at me. My face grew hotter than ever.

Fidgeting uncomfortably, I tried to answer.

"Err…" I muttered quietly, staring at my shoes nervously.

It was at that thankful moment that Kameko chose to pull me away from the Host Club. For once I was actually glad that she had interfered. I couldn't stay there any longer with that strange new feeling.


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm sorry! I've been very lazy lately…**

**Disclaimer- I do not own Ouran XD**

**Chapter 15- Restless**

"What is it, Kameko?" I asked worriedly as she pulled me along, my face still flushed from seeing Kaoru.

"Come and introduce yourself to the president, Miyoko," she replied excitedly.

With everything that had gone on that night, I had completely forgotten why I was here at this function in the first place. It seemed like so long ago when I was fighting with my sister over my apparent 'need' for a stable job.

"Oh, alright," I replied, defeated.

I was still trying to calm down my frantically beating heart. As we surged through another layer of endless guests, I caught a glimpse of Tamaki's unmistakable blond head in the crowd of dresses, jewelry and fancy hairstyles. I considered something that Kyoya had said earlier – that Tamaki's father was introducing him to some important company owners. Was he also being recommended to the president? Did this mean that I would have to talk to him again? I was honestly sick of Tamaki Suoh at the moment. My sister came to a halt suddenly, hauling me through the final throng of business people. Taken by surprise, I crashed into her back and fell to the floor. Blinded by the lights of the vast ballroom, I blinked my eyes rapidly and tried to stand up again. As a result, when my vision eventually came into focus I found the president of the Suoh Corporation, Shizue Suoh, staring at me disapprovingly.

She was a lot more intimidating in real life than the few photographs which I had examined over the years. Her old lips were pursed firmly together and her grey hair was pulled back into a strict bun. She was wearing an intricate kimono, which showed off her obvious wealth to all around her. Although she was at least ten centimeters shorter than me, her critical facial expression made me want to cringe. Her eyes gazed expectantly at mine; however there was no trace of warmth in their stare. Blushing with embarrassment, I hurriedly tried to pat down my soft brown hair and straighten my dress. Everyone had seen my spectacular fall from grace. I felt like a pet dog that had just knocked over an ornament by accident. Here I was, being introduced to the most important person in the entire business world and yet I still managed to look like a complete mess.

"Um, good evening madam," I addressed nervously, bowing as I did so, "My name is, um, Miyoko Takaki. I am especially honored to have met you."

She did not answer; rather she continued to eye me with a stern expression. Although this may have been an extremely important moment for both me and the entire Takaki family, I couldn't help but wonder about how exactly this woman and Tamaki were related.

Kameko cleared her throat. The never-ending silence was broken.

"Madam, this is my sister, Miyoko," she explained uncertainly, curtsying to be polite. "My family was hoping that she could be considered for a place on the executive committee after she has finished college."

"When will that be?" Shizue asked in a surprisingly deep voice, not lifting her gaze from me.

Kameko glanced anxiously at me. Would she ever consider this notion now when I was just a first year in high school? I didn't even know why she was bothering in the first place.

"Seven years, madam," she answered, biting her lip, "We were hoping that she could be considered for the position early."

"Thank you for the suggestion," she complimented indifferently, "We will consider the matter."

Smiling warmly, Kameko knelt down and kissed the old lady on the hand politely.

"We are very pleased that Miyoko has been taken into consideration," she thanked breathlessly, her green eyes shining. "It means a lot for our family."

A single tear fell down her cheek. I rolled my eyes. Why was she so embarrassing about this? You would think that I'd just one the Nobel Prize.

"Thank you," she whispered again, dabbing at her eyes.

My sister was getting so worked up about this that it was simply annoying. I stared at the polished wooden floor, hoping that she would stop crying soon. All I wanted to do was go home.

It was nearly eleven by the time that Kameko and I eventually retreated back to the comfort of our home. I was so tired that I didn't even bother to change into pajamas; I just kicked of my excruciatingly painful heels and sunk straight into my wonderful bed. However, when I closed my heavy eyelids in utter exhaustion I felt the night's events rushing back, stronger than ever. Between all of my business with the President and Kameko I had completely forgotten about what had happened earlier with the Host Club, especially with Kaoru. I blushed in embarrassment, hidden in the private darkness of my bedroom. Why had I acted in the same ways as the girls at the Host Club? Clearly pretending to be a fangirl was rubbing off on me.

After many hours of thrashing around my bed, a thousand thoughts running through my exhausted brain, I eventually managed to fall asleep. When I woke up, my bed sheets were in tangles and my hair was practically one gigantic knot. Under my eyes, brand new dark circles were emerging. However, they were bright and alert with brand new determination – As the self-respecting nerd that I was, I was going to exterminate any remaining traces of fangirl inside of me.

"Miyoko!" Kita exclaimed cheerfully the moment that I walked into the class of 1-A.

"Oh, hello," I answered awkwardly.

_Now, here is a perfect example of someone who has done nothing to eradicate her fangirl characteristics, _I thought as she continued to stare at me gleefully, a sheepish grin etched all over her face. It was almost as if she was expecting me to ask her something. What was I supposed to say? The world of Kita's mind was a very peculiar place.

Eventually, my brain clicked. I recalled that weird phone call that she'd made to me yesterday. She had said that she had a 'present' for me that she would give me today.

"Did you have something for me, Kita?" I asked reluctantly, hoping that it wouldn't be anything too eccentric.

Instantly, her entire aura seemed to glow with happiness. Even the random students trudging into class appeared just a little less depressed about the prospect of another school week ahead of them.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, overjoyed that I had remembered. "I was in the shops yesterday, and I saw this in the bookstore, and well, it just _screamed _you, Miyo-chan! It's practically the story of your life!"

She rummaged through her pink school bag and fished out a small rectangle wrapped in brown paper. "Here it is!" she cheeped happily, "Hope you enjoy!"

I carefully unwrapped the gift as slowly as possible. I was dreading about what sort of book would be inside. After the final layers had been shed, a small blue book fell into my open hands. It was a shojo manga. The title written on the glossy front cover stated that it was the first volume of Silver Hearts.

"How is this like me exactly?" I asked, examining the blurb. It only took the single word romance before I was itching all over to start reading.

"Don't you think that the heroine looks just like you?" she observed, confused.

On the cover was the picture of a small girl in an ordinary high school uniform. Her hair was midnight black and halfway down her back. She wore five silver bangles around her wrists and her eyes were also a strange silver colour. I found it hard to see Kita's logic. With my shoulder length dirt brown hair and dull green eyes, how on Earth was I identical to this girl? Even so, Kita seemed to be convinced of it.

"Thank you." I said, smiling courteously.

"Oh, Miyoko!" she squealed as she hugged me tightly, "You're so sweet!"

Sniffing, her cheeks glistened with tears. She seriously was overreacting about one tiny thank you.

Nevertheless, I really wanted to read it.

It was merely minutes before I was standing in front of the large library doors at lunchtime. Before entering, I forced myself to recite my tactics to avoid fangirlism. I would definitely not blush when I saw Kaoru. I would make intelligent and boring conversation only. I would not, under any circumstances, allow my nerd image to lapse. Those were the terms under which I was to play chess today. Trembling, I took two deep breaths before opening the door, my heart pounding unevenly.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello everyone :D**

**This is the longest story I've ever written (random fact) … anyways, please review! I really want to improve this story XD**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Ouran (sadly)**

**Chapter 16- Somber Moods **

Kaoru was already inside, waiting for me. Although it had been just yesterday, it felt like ages since I'd seen him. I was momentarily ecstatic to just see him at all before remembering my real purpose.

"Ready to DIE?" I asked seriously, my eyes bursting with flames.

"If you are this into it, how come you don't go to the club meetings?" he asked indifferently, now completely used to my serial killer like attitude when it came to chess.

I snapped out of my mood and rolled my eyes at him. This subject had been covered about twenty times before.

"Err, because if you haven't noticed, I have to come to _your _club and stalk Tamaki-Senpai," I pointed out.

"You don't have to go every single day," he said kindly, "Is that president of yours really mean or something?"

"Not exactly." I replied, "I want to be club president. If I don't show dedication to the tasks he sets for me, he wouldn't even consider me. Come on, let's start."

My days at Ouran High School soon turned into a weird sort of routine. I would go to school, visit the Host Club after school and give the occasional report to Naoko. However, the highlight of my day was lunchtime in the library. Staying true to his promise, Kaoru played chess with me faithfully every day. We had been playing for about two weeks now, and I had finally managed to beat him not just once, but three times (the rest being forfeits by the bell). My mysterious fangirl tendencies had mainly been repressed. However, I wasn't sure how long it would be before they came back. In this way, I always felt slightly nervous around Kaoru.

It was just another ordinary lunchtime. I walked into the library as I had done for the past two and a half weeks. The curtains ruffled comfortingly in the wind and the usual scent of old books lingered in the forgotten room as I entered. But something was different this time. Kaoru was absolutely nowhere to be seen. My heart sunk. My eyes began to glisten with water at his betrayal. As I fought back tears I decided to wander over to the fiction section. Romance novels always made me feel better when I was upset. I had been using this as a strategy since I was little. But why did I care so much about him leaving? As a nerd, it wasn't like I was ever number one on the school popularity chart. It had been a miracle that he'd even agreed to play in the first place. I was naïve to think that he'd waste his lunchtime in the stuffy old library playing chess with the weirdest girl in school.

I could no longer hold it in. Sobbing quietly, I picked up my favourite romance novel and headed towards the antique armchairs at the front of the library. "Miyoko," a voice whispered as I passed through the non-fiction section of the shelves.

I turned around at the sound of my name. The aisle was emblazoned with the words 'English Literature'. It was dark, hidden away and …_ not_ empty. Kaoru was leaning against the brick wall lazily. His eyes flicked up to mine, looking solemn.

"I'm sorry," he apologized softly. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

I blushed. Why did he have to notice the tear tracts etched into my cheeks?

"I wasn't!" I stuttered quickly, "I, um, stuck my finger into my eye. You know how clumsy I am."

He didn't look convinced. My face flushed again, but this time with anger.

"Why are you there?" I asked, storming down the aisle furiously. "What about our game?"

"I'm bored of chess," he replied.

_How? _I wondered in genuine astonishment.

"Well then what do you suppose we do?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"I don't know;" he said vaguely, "Sit here, maybe?"

"Fine," I sighed, "But we will play tomorrow? Promise?"

"I promise," he said as I sat down next to him.

The grey carpeted floor was harder than I'd expected it to be.

"Can't we get a pillow or something?" I complained irritably, shifting around the stiff surface uncomfortably.

"Can't be bothered," he replied indifferently, staring into space.

"Well then," I said, "What do we do now then?"

"I don't know."

Something was wrong. Kaoru was barely answering me, he was just sitting complacedly. His usually cheerful amber eyes were dull and sunken, as if he had barely slept the previous night. Had something happened over the weekend?

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly, patting his arm gently.

Kaoru gazed at my hand intently, before registering my question. Frantically, he lifted his head up to look at me.

"Nothing," he replied dismissively, "So, um, what happened at the party after you left us with your sister? She seemed a little … forceful."

"She wanted me to meet with the head of the Suoh Corporation," I explained. "It's so weird, she's usually so quiet, yet she's so determined that I get a job with them after I finish university. I don't think that I've ever seen her that animated in my life."

"Oh, right," he said calmly.

"I don't get it," I continued thoughtfully, "Why do I even need to impress the Suoh family when I'll have a job with my company anyway. By the time that we graduate, Mother and Father will be back from travelling. It doesn't make sense."

A brief expression of surprise flashed across his face. Kaoru opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it just as quickly.

"What is it?" I asked in concern.

"Nothing," he assured, fidgeting with the carpet.

"Well I've told you," I teased lightly, "I suppose that it's only fair that you tell me what happened after I left. What happened?"

"Oh, nothing," Kaoru replied, smiling reassuringly at me. "Tamaki was being stupid again. You know the usual."

I laughed. It was nice to be sitting on the floor, amongst boring English literature. Although this may sound painful I was happy. I was with Kaoru.

"I sure do," I agreed, still giggling.

Something was different at the Host Club that afternoon. The first heavy rain of the season had arrived, and the soft patter of rain drops on the roof seemed to give the crowded music room a sober feel.

"How are you today, my princesses?" Tamaki asked with a smile as he sat down with me and his fangirls.

"We're very good, Tamaki-Senpai!" the girls chorused eagerly.

_Even on a day as grey as this, at least someone doesn't change one bit, _I thought, resting my head on the corner of my seat.

I noticed that Hikaru was absent from the club today. "Kyoya-Senpai," I said, stopping him as he walked past, "Where is Hikaru today? I thought that attending club meetings was compulsory."

"They said that they had some family matters to attend to today," he explained, closing his notebook with a snap, "What is it? Are you thinking of switching your preferences over?"

"What the?" I stammered angrily, my cheeks heating up. "Of course not! Tamaki is my, um, _one and only."_

He shrugged and moved on to examine Haruhi and her fans.

"Sorry, Tamaki-Sempai!" I apologized hastily before slipping over to where Kaoru was sitting, alone.

He looked shocked to see me.

"Where's Hikaru?" I asked breathlessly.

"At home," he replied simply. "He had some things to think about."

"What?" I persisted.

I could have sworn that I saw his eyes flick over to where Haruhi was entertaining her guests.

"Haruhi?" I asked, "He has to think about Haruhi? Why?"

"No, that's not it!" he insisted.

Unfortunately for Kaoru, I wasn't as dense as he thought I was. It was about Haruhi, and I was going to find out. I may not have been a fangirl, but I knew that whatever was happening, it was hurting Kaoru too. I couldn't allow that to happen.


	17. Chapter 17

**Just to let everyone know, after this chapter I won't be able to update to around the 5****th**** or 6****th**** of October. I'm going to China!**

**Please wait for it! I've tried to make this chapter long to make up for it…**

**Disclaimer – Miyoko is the only thing I own in this story. Not Ouran.**

**Chapter 17 – Different Feelings**

The next day, Hikaru was back. However, I could tell that everything was still not alright. He was barely speaking to his younger brother at all. Instead, he sat stonily by himself in the corner. The class of 1-A whispered quietly around him, but no-one dared to approach. Kaoru was also by himself, his head hanging as if there was a great weight upon his shoulders. When the class exited the large classroom for the cafeteria, I remained behind, knowing that Haruhi usually brought her lunch from home and ate it in the classroom. The first thing that I had decided to do was investigate her. Clearly she was the centre of this entire mess.

"What is it, Takaki?" she asked pleasantly when I approached her.

She was sitting at her desk, a small obento in front of her. Inside was homemade chicken sushi and perfectly cooked rice. It looked really delicious, but now was not the time to share lunches.

"Do you know what's wrong with Hikaru?"

I was so hasty with my question that she dropped her chopsticks in surprise.

"I didn't know that you two were friends," she replied.

"We're not." I insisted quickly, "I was just wondering, that's all."

She sighed heavily. Clearly this was upsetting her too.

"I don't know what's wrong," she confided, an air of gloom lingering in her voice. "He's been acting strange lately…"

Smiling kindly, I placed my hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Thanks anyway," I said, patting her softly.

"Takaki?"

My name was merely a small voice on the distant horizon. Although I was in class, surrounded by people, my mind was very far away.

"Takaki!" the voice persisted.

Finally I arrived back into reality and glanced upwards. The teacher was glaring at me angrily, an open mathematics book in her hand.

"Glad to have you join us," she said sarcastically. "Tell me the answer to problem seven."

"Oh," I stuttered, "It's, um, twenty-six?"

"No, it's one hundred and five," she corrected instantly. "Takaki, have you even looked at the question?"

"Yes, teacher," I lied, rapidly flicking through the book to the correct page.

I saw that the question was something about the area of a triangle. I couldn't believe that I would miss such an interesting subject as maths. What was wrong with me? I couldn't concentrate on anything for more than a minute.

School went by in a flash as I slept through lessons. I was out of it for the entire day. Everyone stared at me as oddly as they were staring at Hikaru. I suppose that I'd never been so unaware of class work in my entire school life at Ouran Academy.

"Are you alright, Miyoko-chan?" Kita whispered worriedly during Japanese.

Lately she had taken to calling me by this name. Normally it would have annoyed me to death, but today I was so completely distracted that it didn't bother me in the slightest.

"Do you have a fever?" Fuiju added, feeling my forehead discreetly. "Strange, it's not hot or anything…"

Pushing them both away, I shook my head subtly to avoid attention.

"I'm fine, you two," I reassured, sitting up animatedly as if to prove my point.

They didn't look at all convinced. I could feel their concerned expressions boring into me. It was very uncomfortable as I tried to pay attention for the first time.

"It's just," Fuiju began quietly, "You seem so different today."

Kita nodded sadly.

"You're always so active and full of spirit," she agreed. "Did something happen?"

Two metres away, Kaoru looked up in astonishment. Those two really weren't very good at keeping their vices quiet. He stared at me forlornly, as if there was something that he knew about what was happening. Did he know that I was investigating about his brother?

"No," I protested, blushing, "I'm fine."

I sighed as I stood outside the doors of Music Room Three for yet another day. Somehow, everything I did always came back to this place. An eager crowd of fangirls behind me. The random floating sakura petals, caressing the door as it swung clearly. The Host Club, dressed up yet again in one of their weird cosplay outfits. At least this place never changed. In a way, as much as I hated coming here, it was somewhat of a relief.

"Welcome!" the club chanted in unison.

Didn't these girls ever get bored of the same thing every day? Today they were dressed in Australian culture designs, right down to the hats with cork bobbles and brown ranger outfits. I smiled to myself. Five years ago I had visited Australia myself, and they had gotten the style right off. I had never seen any Australian wearing those before.

"G'day, my shielas," Tamaki said in a fake accent (again, I'd never heard any Australian say that), "Welcome to the Host Club, where today we are deep in the mysterious outback of Australia."

The girls next to me squealed in delight. "He's so cool and manly! Kyah!" they gushed.

For the first time that day, I felt like bursting into laughter, but that would blow my cover. I settled for looking excited at the sight of them.

"All of the plants you see here were flown in from my father's colleague's greenhouse in Sydney itself." Kyoya added informatively.

There were gum trees, grass trees and wattle. It was sad to see these poor plants so far from home. Sighing, I entered, feeling something sweep over my feet as I walked. Looking down, I saw that it was red sand. Had they flown that in too? Surely all this was a bit much. Shifting awkwardly, I could feel the sand seeping uncomfortably into my school shoes.

"Today we are serving lamingtons," Tamaki explained happily as we sat down, "They are a common form of desert in Australia. We will of course be serving them with our usual commoner's coffee."

"So, um, what did you do today, Tamaki-Senpai?" I asked nervously.

He took hold of my hands and stared deeply into my eyes. _This would be so much more epic if he hadn't done it a thousand times before, _I thought miserably.

"I was in the outback, my dear Sheila," he said exaggeratedly. "I was riding my kangaroo up Uluru to find this precious gift for you."

Holding out a small koala key ring, he placed it into my right palm.

"It is a sacred handcrafted item worth one hundred Australian dollars. Take it as a remembrance of our endless love," he added.

A large squeal erupted from our corner of the room. The fangirls had become over excited again.

"Tamaki-Senpai, give us one too!" they asked eagerly.

I sighed.

Eventually, it came to that time of day when the fangirls cried and I rejoiced happily. The Host Club was closing. Despite the delicate situation, things at the Host Club had gone relatively normally. The only difference to the usual was that Hikaru and Kaoru had spoken individually to their customers, instead of performing any of the creepy twincest acts that they would ordinarily put on. Myself, I was also preparing to leave, but I wanted to say goodbye to Kaoru before I left. We were friends after all.

"Hi," I said shyly, "See you tomorrow."

"Hmm?" he murmured distractedly, not really paying attention. "Yeah. See ya."

"Hey!" I shouted angrily, kicking his foot, "Why aren't you talking to me anymore?"

He shrugged vaguely.

"I d'know," he said, standing up. "Goodbye."

Before he could leave, a large clatter sounded from the other side of the room. Tamaki was chasing Haruhi again, holding out one of the mini koalas. Something was different this time. I could tell.

"Are you okay, Fujioka?" I asked nervously as she ran past as fast as possible.

Her eyes were desperate as she looked at me.

"I'm fine," she insisted, her face bright red. "I've just got a cold, that's all. I should go home."

"A cold?" Tamaki asked worriedly. "You must go to the hospital right away!"

"I'm fine, Tamaki-Senpai!" she insisted, looking terrified at the sight of him.

In seconds she had ran out of the room. Tamaki was visibly shaken.

"What did I do?" he asked miserably.

The club turned to comfort him. I stared out of the door, watching her small figure retreat out of sight. _Well, that was weird,_ I thought.

Instantly, Hikaru stood up.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru protested, grabbing hold of his brother's arm only to be shaken off immediately.

Without a word, Hikaru also promptly left the Host Club room. All that was now left was the six of us. The others didn't look too surprised. I was the only one who was still trying to figure out what had happened.

"I'll go after him," Kaoru decided nervously, before following his brother.

It had been nearly twenty minutes since the host club had closed for the day. Kaoru was sitting on the floor of a dark empty classroom. I had been searching for him since that strange incident in the club room.

"Aha!" I declared, trying to cheer him up. "I've found you!"

He didn't even acknowledge me. My blood began to boil, but I quickly cooled it down. Now was evidently not the time to get angry at him.

"What is it?" I asked, concerned.

"Nothing," he repeated.

Punching him softly, I pulled him up to talk.

"Hey," I said, "You can't expect me to believe that. I'm not _that_ stupid."

He took a deep breath.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked.

I frowned.

"What is?"

"Haruhi's obviously in love with Tono," he explained, "Hikaru – "

My stomach flopped.

"He loves her too." I realized.

Kaoru nodded, confirming my discovery.

"But what does that have to do with you?" I wondered.

My eyes widened as my brain clicked into the situation.

"You love her too." I told him, feeling slightly bitter at the thought.

He didn't answer. Instead he looked just as dejected as he had ever since that night. Putting aside my strange feelings, I decided to distract him from this problem.

"I know!" I said, brightening, "Come home with me and do some homework! It always makes me feel much better!"

I leapt up energetically at the idea. He opened his mouth to protest, but I had already pulled him along with me. I was determined to make him smile again, whatever it took.

"Let's go," I ordered, already calling Kameko to bring a car.

**Hope you liked it! I'll try and update as soon as possible. **

**BTW, this is not supposed to be racist. It's a parody of the stupid stereotypes which people always give us Australians. (I am one myself :D)**

**Please review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm back from the dead, everyone! Actually, I've been back for two weeks… just soooo tired…**

**Hope that you like this chapter! Please review! :p**

**Oh yeah, I don't own Ouran. I think everyone kinda knows that by now, but I'll say it anyway XD**

**Chapter 18- Betrayal**

Kaoru was very quiet during the drive to my house. Bothered by the awkward silence, I chattered endlessly about anything I could possibly think of, from the state of our class's homework these days to my best times for beating people in a chess match. However, he didn't say a single word for the entire duration of our trip.

"Miyoko!" Kameko greeted warmly when I arrived at the door.

It was only after she had enveloped me in an enormous hug that she noticed Kaoru standing behind us. He smiled nervously.

"Who's this?" she asked quizzically, her eyebrows raised so high that they were at the point of disappearing into her dark hair.

"It's Kaoru." I explained, "He's in my class at school."

"Ooh, Kaoru Hitachiin?" she exclaimed eagerly, her eyes lighting up. "The son of that famous designer?"

Kaoru nodded solemnly.

"Oh, well then," Kameko insisted, pushing Kaoru and I into the entrance hall firmly. "Do come in! I'm sorry, we're a little short staffed at the moment, but please try to enjoy yourself!"

"It's alright," he replied quietly, rubbing his back where she had shoved him along.

"So what brings you here, Kaoru?" Kameko asked gleefully as we set out the plates.

"He's doing homework with me," I explained, my china clattering noisily.

"Oh," she mumbled, her face screwed up in an odd expression.

It was almost as if she was asking "Why would anyone want to do that?" However, there was no way that this could possibly be true. Homework was fun!

Kameko persisted endlessly that she would cook the food herself, shooing us out of the kitchen as if we were some kind of pest. While we were waiting for her to finish, I decided to give Kaoru a tour of the house.

"It's a bit empty in here, with just the two of us," I said thoughtfully as we roamed through some of the many winding corridors. "But as soon as my parents come home, this place will be bustling with people again."

He stopped suddenly, frowning.

"Your parents?" he asked slowly, a fleeting expression of pity crossing his features. "Where are they, exactly?"

"Travelling," I answered happily, paying no attention to his strange behavior. "Have been for a few years now. But Kameko says that they'll be back in a month or so."

"Really?" he gasped in surprise." W-when were you told that?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "A while ago, I suppose. Why?"

For a mere minute, he no longer looked depressed; His amber eyes were now darting from side to side as if to escape something. I could see that he was panicking about something.

"Nothing," he dismissed rapidly, deflating and returning to normal.

My stomach flipped as we entered the dull yellow glow of my bedroom. Had I remembered to move the piles of books from the floor? Did I even make my _bed_?

"This is my room," I explained shyly.

To my horror, I hadn't done either of those things. I watched as Kaoru examined every messy detail.

"It's a little um, untidy," I said hastily, kicking my old socks under the bed and clearing some books of a chair.

"You know, I never expected someone like you to be such a slob," he commented truthfully.

"Shut up," I scolded, poking him softly in the arm.

"Mm," he replied dismissively as he wandered in without warning.

Beginning to examine the piles of higgledy-piggledy and somewhat shabby books, Kaoru grabbed a pink one from the top of a teetering stack. My face flushed as I sped across the room and snatched it away as fast as lightning.

"'Impossible love?'" he read, a strange look of complete disbelief etched onto his face. "_You _read this?"

"No!" I insisted hurriedly, shaking my head wildly. "My – um, my sister gave it to me! I couldn't exactly say no, could I?"

It was a pretty lame excuse in my opinion. Unfortunately, Kaoru saw right through it.

"If it's your sister's, then why does it have 'Miyoko Takaki. If found please return!' scrawled on the front cover? Surely you wouldn't care if it was stolen, right?"

I was caught. Bright red in the face, my clodhopper school shoes suddenly became the most interesting objects in the world.

"Fine, they're mine," I admitted sheepishly after a long pause.

Fearfully, I closed my eyes tightly, expecting him to laugh at my stupid hobby. After a while, I realized that he wasn't laughing. I opened my eyes slowly. Kaoru was staring at me oddly.

"What are you doing?" he asked in astonishment.

"I thought that you'd laugh." I confessed.

He blinked in surprise.

"Why would I do that?" he said kindly, "It's your life. You can read what you like."

He began to walk out of my room and into the corridor outside. Panicking, I ran as fast as I could (the average person's casual jog) to catch up with him.

"Kaoru!" I called desperately, puffing.

As he turned around I ran straight into him, flinging my arms around his waist.

"Thank you," I mumbled, my voice muffled by his clothes.

He was extremely silent even when I let go after an era.

"C'mon," I said awkwardly. "The food's almost ready by now."

Kameko was already sitting down at one end of the dining table by the time we arrived, both reasonably red in the face. We had not spoken since I had hugged him in the hallway. Her eyes lit up as she spotted us.

"Miyoko! Kaoru!" she called ecstatically, "Come and try this food! I made it all myself!"

She was as excited as I remembered from when we were kids and helped in the kitchen. I had always been dragged along with my nose deep into a book, but she had loved it.

"Come on, Miyoko-chan!" she'd chirped, her cheeks covered in flour. "It's fun, right?"

_What happened to her? _I wondered, picking at the chocolate biscuit that Kameko had just made. _Until today, I can't remember the last time she was so happy about anything._

"Miyoko?" Kaoru asked. "Are you alright?"

It was evening, and the two of us were in my study working on homework. As usual, I was talking about chess.

"When my parents get back, I'm going to challenge my father. He loves chess, you see." I said proudly. "He's even won a few competitions."

Kaoru's hand paused in his scribbling. He clenched his fists as if he was in pain.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.

"Nothing," he said dismissively. "I should go."

I blocked the door quickly. Something was up, and I wasn't going to let him go without saying anything.

"I'm not leaving till you tell me!" I told him stubbornly.

For a moment he looked as if he were about to cry. I blinked in surprise. Had something happened to him or Hikaru?

"Come here," he said, pointing to the two reading chairs which I always use after a hard day.

I sat down in one of them, shoving the dozen or so books to the side.

"What's wrong?" I repeated softly.

"If you knew something horrible had happened to a friend, you would tell them, right?"

I frowned. Was that all? Although I hadn't known him too long, he always seemed to be thinking about other people's problems.

"Yeah, I suppose." I agreed, shrugging. "Is Haruhi going to be sent to a homeless shelter?"

He shook his head, sighing. Grasping my hands firmly, he looked directly into my eyes.

"What is it?" I asked nervously, wondering what had suddenly come over him.

"Your parents aren't coming home, Miyoko," he explained sadly.

The news stabbed suddenly into my chest. How could it be true? Kameko had never said anything at all!

"What?" I asked, hoping that somehow it would all be a joke. "That's not funny."

"It's true, Miyoko," he said gravely. "They aren't travelling. They've left you and your sister."


	19. Chapter 19

**Hi! I'm sorry this took so long! This chapter is quite long to make up for it!**

**Hope you like this chapter :) Please review ^^**

**I do not own Ouran!**

**Chapter 19 – The Truth**

I couldn't cry. I couldn't scream. I couldn't even speak. There was nothing I could do at all to change what had happened.

_It had been a year ago when my parents had left on their long deserved holiday. They'd always been super hard workers, barely even taking a day of sick leave. _

"_Bye, mother," I had said cheerfully as we waved them off from our private airport. "Bye father. Come home soon, okay?"_

_They had said their goodbyes quickly, before hurrying off to catch their flight. The noise of the plane as it took off deafened every other sound in the area, but I still noticed Kameko staring after that tiny speck that was my parents for ten minutes after. _

"_What's wrong?" I asked. "Aren't we going home now?"_

"_Hmm?" Kameko mumbled. "Oh, yes, of course. It's just sad to see them go, isn't it?"_

"_Yeah," I agreed softly._

_We held hands and retreated from the air strip. Staring after my sister worriedly, I wondered what was on her mind. Her dark hair was greasy and her clothes were crumpled and stained. In fact, she'd been acting weirdly for a week._

"_But they're coming back, right?" I demanded slowly._

_Smiling, she had reassured me that they were definitely coming home, but they just needed a really long holiday from all the stress._

"_After all," Kameko explained, "being the CEO of a major company must be a challenge, right?"_

"_Right," I agreed happily. "C'mon, let's go eat some onigiri at home together!"_

_Smiling for the first time in weeks, Kameko took my hand._

"_Yeah, that sounds great," she decided._

_What had they been thinking as they boarded that plane? Had they known, even then, that that would be the last time they would ever see their daughters?_

"Miyoko?"

I could hear Kaoru's voice, interrupting the swift flow of my memories.

"Miyoko?" he asked urgently, "Are you alright?"

Looking up, I remembered that I was still in my room with Kaoru rather than that airport a year ago. Shakily, I pulle

d my tangled hair out of my face and discovered my wet eyelashes and damp cheeks. I had been crying. In fact, I was still crying. Tears dripped from my eyelids continuously and landed onto the soft bed below me, saturating my bed sheets. Why had they done this to me? I may not have been the kindest person in the world, but surely they loved me anyway? Why had they left? They must have had a choice. Was I merely a small inconvenience in their lives that they could just resolve and abandon?

"Why did they do it?" I whispered through my tears.

I made eye-contact with Kaoru for the first time since he had told me. To my surprise, his eyes were glistening as well.

"I don't know," he said helplessly with a sad smile. "I'm sorry."

Although I was still weeping uncontrollably, his comforting smile made my world lift slightly. Instead of rock bottom, it was now maybe nine tenths of the way down. This might not have been much, but it was something.

One thing still bothered me. Why did Kaoru know about it? How could have discovered something this major about me that I didn't know myself? It

"Who told you?" I asked, hanging on the last glimmer of hope left – maybe someone had lied to him?

"Kyoya." Kaoru replied grimly. "He knows everything."

This was true. He knew what my favourite foods were before I'd even met him. If Kyoya had told Kaoru, then there was no denying that my parents had indeed abandoned us.

"Where are you going?" he asked as I stood up suddenly.

"There's something I have to do." I said vaguely.

_Kameko must have known. _

Ever since my parents had left, she had become increasingly overprotective of me. Also, she'd been worrying for hours over our money. She had never seemed as lively after they left, but I thought that she was just missing them while they were away. It all made sense.

I was running, faster than I had ever run before in my life. The dark corridor whizzed past me as I passed as if I was in a speeding underground train. I wasn't even sure which direction I was running; all I knew was that I had to find the kitchen. Kameko was probably in there cooking dinner for the three of us, only now I knew why. With our parents gone, we must have run out of money to pay the servants. I needed her. There were so many questions that I had to ask. Why had our parents left? Where were they now? Most importantly, _why hadn't she told me about it?_

Kameko was washing dishes when I burst into the kitchen, my face bright red and puffing from the effort of running.

"What is it, Miyoko?" she asked, looking confused. As she took in my disheveled appearance and tear stained face, her smile vanished. "What's happened?"

"Why did you lie to me?" I cried, my voice so loud that she jumped back in surprise. "Why didn't you just tell me what happened?"

"What do you mean Kaiya?" she asked alarmingly, "What have I done?"

It annoyed me that she didn't understand straight away.

"Mum and Dad!" I shouted, "Why didn't you tell me that they'd abandoned us?"

She looked shocked.

"How did you – "

"Never mind how!" I interrupted, "Just tell me what happened."

No longer yelling, I stared at her. I just wanted to know now, desperately. I was too numb to be mad at her. Smiling sadly, she sat down on the kitchen bench. She looked so tired that it was as if she'd gained ten years of age in ten seconds.

"I'm sorry that I never told you," she apologized softly. "I couldn't bring myself to do that to you. I know it was wrong – "

"Yes it was." I agreed.

"– but you would have been so upset if I did, Miyoko," she continued.

"I'll forgive you if you tell me now," I compromised.

"Fine," she confirmed, her voice catching on the words. "I'll tell you."

Kameko took a deep breath and began.

"A few months before they left, I overheard them talking in the study at night on my way to the bathroom. They sounded quite stressed so I eavesdropped," she explained, grinning guiltily through her tears. "They were talking about their recent plans to bring down the Suoh Corporation."

_Tamaki's family company, _I realized.

"They were cheats, Miyoko," she said bluntly. "They'd already embezzled a heap of other major companies such as the Hitachiin's secretly. The Suohs were just the next step."

I'd always thought my parents to be kind people who respected and obeyed the law. What kid doesn't?

"The plan was to create false bills and cheat the company because they would have to pay more, see?" she continued.

"Why did that mean that they had to leave?" I asked, confused.

"There was a leak." Kameko explained. "The Suoh received a tip off about the plan, so mother and father fled the country. That's why they left."

There were so many questions that I needed to ask her. Had they wanted to leave? Did they have a choice?

"We weren't important to them, Miyoko." Kameko said grimly, as if reading my mind. "As well as the _country,_ they also abandoned the company. We've been surviving on the remainders of the fortune that they left behind. It's starting to run out now, and I can't earn much money while I'm at university! Part time doesn't pay much."

I hugged her tightly as I sobbed. After a few moments, I let go. I still couldn't believe that this was happening.

"So how do you know anyway?" she asked curiously.

Her eyes were finally dry, but I was still crying. It was all too much to take in. But as shocked and numb as I was, I couldn't bring myself to be really angry at Kameko. I was annoyed, but she was all I had now.

"Umm… Kaoru -" I began sheepishly.

"I told her."

Kameko and I turned around. Kaoru was standing at the entrance to the kitchen. It was obvious that he'd been listening all along.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "You did what I was afraid to do But how did you know?"

Kaoru looked at me.

"Kyoya," I said.

Kameko frowned.

**Please tell me if it makes sense! I'm not very smart so I don't know if I got the embezzlement thing right… **

**Next chapter will have more comedy in it! This one's pretty much completely depressing… oh well.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry this took so long… oh well, I'm on summer holiday now so next one should be quicker!**

**Please Review!**

**Um… I don't own Ouran :D**

**Chapter 20 – An Ordinary Day**

It had been just a day since I'd found out about… everything. Although this is in reality a short time, it seemed like an entire lifetime since the day before.

The sound of aimless chatter and laughter burnt into my ears, so much that I received a severe headache. My ordinary life hadn't changed. As usual, I was visiting the Host Club in the afternoon. Girls were screaming with joy, but I rolled my eyes. I couldn't even be bothered to hide my dissatisfaction. The entire club just seemed so predictable now – Kyoya was scheming, Tamaki was being a drama king and Haruhi just seemed bored with it all. On top of that, the twin's 'show' could be heard above the squeals of delight from their many visitors, Honey was sitting at a table eating yet another cake, and Mori simply wasn't saying anything at all. Sighing, I remembered that I had a job to perform.

"Welcome my princess," Tamaki greeted warmly, as he always did.

I nodded indifferently in slight recognition. Before he could reply, I sat down robotically onto the overpriced, overstuffed and overly decorated club lounge. I was completely out of it. It would not be until Kita pointed it out the next day that I register the fact that Tamaki and the fangirls were staring at me as if I'd just announced my permanent retirement from the Chess Club. After all, due to my exaggerated charade I had always appeared to be one of the most enthusiastic clients ever to walk the floor of Music Room 3. Even people who only knew the fake aspects of my personality could tell that I wasn't myself.

We sat in silence. Clearly Tamaki had no idea what had happened to me. I suppose that it would have been quite freaky to him – a girl who'd been all over him just a few days before was now virtually a machine. Clearing his throat nervously, he attempted to take my hand gently. I slid my hand from his grasp uninterestedly.

"So, how are you, my princess?" he asked, sounding slightly confused.

"Fine," I answered shortly.

He blinked in surprise at the coldness of my voice, but kept trying.

"Do you have a fever?" he continued. "Please allow me the honour of holding your hand until you recover."

Although I was fully aware of how phony his entire act was, he still seemed to be genuinely concerned about me. Shrugging him off absentmindedly, I stood up.

"I'm sorry," I apologized tonelessly.

Before Tamaki could react, I was dusting off my school books and hurrying out of the door. Hopefully Naoko would not mind if my report was a little early today.

He was sitting at his desk in the library, studying an economics textbook intently. Not that this was anything out of the ordinary. For the record, I'd never seen him do anything else while he was here in the library.

"What is it, Miyoko?" he said, not taking his eyes off the long winded and complicated explanation of supply and demand.

"Um, you asked me to report, President," I tried awkwardly, "about my 'job'."

The book closed with a loud snap. He stared at me disapprovingly through his antique glasses.

"What did I do?" I asked, frowning.

As business-like as ever, Naoko put down his book and stacked a large file of papers importantly. Squinting, I saw that the file had 'Host Club Operation' scrawled across it in black ink. He cleared his throat.

"I have been meaning to talk to you about your 'work'," he explained, scanning the thick text. "According to my reports, your acting has not been as… _effective _today as previous studies have revealed. You were quite distant and unconvincing this afternoon, correct?"

How had he known about that? I'd only just left the place! Did news really travel around Ouran High that fast?

"What?" I spluttered in disbelief. "That was only half an hour – "

"I have my sources," he interrupted mysteriously, continuing to examine the information.

I rolled my eyes. Sometimes this guy was as bad as Kyoya.

"Back to topic," he said, continuing his drone as if nothing had happened, "We have reason to believe that you are failing in your task. If this poor work effort continues, you will never be offered the position of President after I have graduated. It is a great shame; I was seriously considering you as a viable candidate…"

I blinked. Didn't this guy have any empathy at all? For months now I had lived a double life, sacrificing my own studying and chess time to meet his standards. I had provided valuable information for the running of _his_ club. Yet this was how he thanked me? One day where my cover slipped and suddenly I was out of the running?

"What do you have to say for yourself?" he finished.

My blood was boiling by this time. He didn't even _care_.

"You idiot!" I shouted angrily, slapping him across the cheek. "Do you even know _anything_?"

Naoko seemed stunned by my retaliation. However, after a minute he had straightened his glasses and returned to his usual professional front.

"Perhaps I was wrong to entrust you with this task," he said, oblivious to the red mark slowly creeping across his right cheek. "I will have to review this current arrangement…"

I realized that I didn't even matter in this so called 'arrangement'. The only thing that was in this stupid mess for him was customer ratings and his father's approval. It was a business game for him. It didn't matter if I or anyone else was hurt in the process.

"Do you even know what happened a year ago?" I tried.

Despite the fact that he'd used me for his personal agenda, I guess that I still had a slight glimmer of hope that Naoko was in some way, human. Not for my sake – but for his own.

"Of course," he replied. "I always keep up with the business world."

I sighed. He didn't even look upset. There was no chance for him. If I wanted any chance to become President, than I'd just have to deal with it.

"I'll work harder, President." I promised half-heartily.

He nodded slightly, engrossed once again in the economic problem.

He had retreated back into his little world completely. There was no reason for me to stay here any longer. I was halfway to the door when I stopped.

"Naoko?" I called for the last time.

"Mm?" he replied distractedly.

"I'm sorry."

The next lunchtime, I was sitting by myself in the library, playing chess. I wasn't getting very far with the game. After all, it isn't exactly recommended to play chess with no opponent.

I was engrossed with making my next move (playing white) when a hand reached onto the board and moved the black queen. I looked up, confused. A familiar boy was standing next to the table.

"Checkmate," Kaoru said, smiling.

I examined the board hurriedly. He was right. But how had he known? Kaoru had never beaten me at chess before! What was happening to the world?

"Why are you here?" I asked irritably, still fuming at having lost.

He looked hurt.

"I was worried," he explained. "You seemed upset yesterday."

I blushed. He was worried about me?

"It was nothing," I replied hotly. "I was just – I mean I was just sad, that's all."

I pretended to be engrossed in my fingernails, secretly ashamed that he had seen through me. Kaoru sat down in the chair across from me and took my hand gently.

"How is it?" he asked sadly.

I shrugged.

"Nothing's sunk in yet, I guess." I said truthfully. "It's just that Naoko – "

He frowned, his beautiful amber eyes full of concern. I sighed, and quickly explained what had happened with Naoko after I had left the Host Club.

After a long silence, he asked me a strange question.

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'll just do what he wants. He's evil, but it's the only way I can become President next year."

He sighed sadly. It was as if he was_ disappointed_ or something.

"What's wrong?" I said huffily.

"Nothing."


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello people! **

**Strangely, the end of this chapter and the one after it are the only bit apart from Chapter 1 which I had planned clearly since the beginning… .**

**Hope that you like it!**

**Anyways, I don't own Ouran!**

**Chapter 21 – The Truth**

The library was as quiet and comforting as ever, just the way I liked it. As it was a warm autumn day, the library was completely empty except for me. The sounds of chattering students wafted slightly through the open window, but not enough to disturb me. It was the first time in a week that I'd had a moment of peace. Sighing deeply, I sunk further into the folds of the expensive armchair by the wonderfully stuffy library fire. It was then that I fell asleep easily for the first time in weeks.

I guess it must have been wishful thinking to think that I could find peace at this school. I had only been asleep for a few minutes when someone came and violently shook me awake. I opened my eyes, glaring at the blond person who had dared to disturb me.

"Miyoko! There you are!" she scolded cheerfully.

Kita was standing over me triumphantly. I groaned. Not surprisingly, that was all it would take to send my temporary bliss down the drain. What did she have in store for me this time?

Her face was bright with happiness and excitement. Despite this, somehow it felt as if there was an evil demon lying closely behind her bubbly smile. I gulped. From my many experiences with Kita, I knew that whatever she said would lead to sheer pain and possibly humiliation. It was impossible to predict what this girl had on her mind sometimes.

"Where have you been all lunchtime?" she asked crossly. "Fuiju and I just had the most awesome idea ever!"

Instinctively my mind headed back to the last time that she and Fuiju had had an 'awesome idea'. I'd been dragged through hideous clothes shops to eventually choose a purple and electric blue shocker of a suit. It had burned my eyes just looking at it.

"What is it?" I said dully, struggling to hide my lack of enthusiasm.

Frankly, I'd had enough of Kita and Fuiju's 'ideas' to last a lifetime.

"We're going to go on a ghost hunt!" she explained eagerly, taking no notice of my complete disinterest.

I frowned. A 'ghost hunt'? Somehow, the idea of that was even weirder than I had expected. Fangirls never ceased to amaze me…

"Why?" I blurted without thinking.

Instantly I regretted opening my mouth. It took that one tiny word to trigger an explosion. Kita was rejuvenated, with a new burst of enthusiasm and quiet desperation, all set to annoy me to death.

"Well, it's always been my dream to explore a creepy place for a supernatural presence!" she gushed, waving her arms in hyperactive gestures. "How exciting would that be? If we found something, we'd gain the headline space in the next edition of Ou-Spo for sure!"

"Yippee. That's just what I've always wanted." I replied mockingly. "When you say that _both_ of you had this idea, exactly how much say did Fuiju have?"

"I know right! You must have been so excited when you made the headline for some checkers tournament or something." she continued ecstatically, immune to my question and obvious sarcasm. "I can't wait for my turn!"

I didn't bother to correct her mistake. I'd never played checkers in my life. The article was about a chess tournament, and it was not the headline. The paper had dedicated three sentences on page sixty-two to my victory.

"Skip the Host Club today and meet me in the East Dungeon!" she instructed gleefully.

I grabbed her arm instinctively. With my Vice-Presidency hanging on by the skin of my teeth, there was no way that I could skip club activities! Besides, Kaoru would wonder where I was. I had to stop her.

"But if I don't go to the Club then – "I began pleadingly before coming to my senses and closing my mouth hurriedly.

I'd be in even more trouble if I told her the truth.

_Why am I even here… _I thought miserably as I followed Kita reluctantly around the dungeon. She was at least fifty metres ahead of me, but the dungeon was so huge that I could still see her tiny figure down the corridor. It didn't really seem like a dungeon to me, more like a passageway. I could not be bothered with this. How long would it take for us to search every corner? Ghosts didn't exist anyway.

For once, I was not alone with my thoughts. Fuiju was also beside me, looking as disinterested as I felt. Her eyes were very far away. It was strange to see her so… _normal_.

_So she has her limits after all,_ I thought.

"How come you're not excited?" I asked conversationally. "I thought you'd be into this kind of stuff."

She shrugged, rolling her eyes.

"Like you can talk," she pointed out bluntly. "I'm just not interested. Can't we go to the Host Club? There's no one else down here, except maybe Nekozawa-Sempai."

I smiled slightly. She was right. This was the first time that I'd ever spoken to Fuiju by herself before. Perhaps there was a whole other side to her than I'd ever imagined. It was slightly shameful that I'd always thought of her as a brainless fangirl zombie…

"True," I agreed.

"Hey," she said suddenly, stopping in her tracks. "I thought of a plus side to this stupid adventure."

I frowned.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

She smiled brightly.

"If we see a ghost and scream loud enough, then maybe the Host Club will come and rescue us," she explained, giggling.

"Yeah," I agreed.

Ten minutes later, Kita was no longer in sight. Fuiju craned her neck, searching for a sight of her.

"Hey, it looks like she's finally disappeared round the corner," she whispered in relief, nudging me.

"Mm," I acknowledged vaguely.

Fuiju grabbed my arm excitedly.

"Let's sneak out of here and go to the club," she said breathlessly. "If we come back a little early, she won't even notice that we were gone."

I nodded. Even the Host Club was slightly more interesting than this.

Everyone at the club was too busy to notice the two of us sneaking in late. Fuiju smiled kindly, tapping my shoulder.

"See you later," she said happily. "Have fun with Tamaki."

I sighed as I walked reluctantly to Tamaki and his band of fangirls. Although Kita's pure craziness had taken my mind off my parents for a while, it was all coming back. In spite of what Naoko had threatened, I still didn't have time for this anymore.

Today's theme for the club was some kind of defense thing. The hosts were all dressed up as generals and commanders. When compared to some of their other extravagant ideas of the past, it almost seemed normal.

"Welcome, everyone," Tamaki welcomed importantly, "It is my honour to have you ladies as my treasured comrades today."

The girls squealed. I rolled my eyes non-discreetly.

"Miyoko, what's wrong?" Tamaki asked, still confused. "Am I saying something wrong?"

I shrugged.

"I'm fine," I said vaguely. "I have to go."

I wandered over to where Kaoru was sitting, chatting to his guests.

"Hi," I said shyly. "Can I sit with you?"

His face fell when he saw me standing beside the expensive lounge. He seemed sad to see me. I blinked in surprise. What had I done wrong?

"Umm," I stuttered, my eyes watering slightly, "its okay if you don't want to…"

"No, he said quietly. "It's not okay."

He stood up so violently that the table nearly fell over. The noise was so loud that he now had the entire club's attention.

"I'm sick of this, Takaki!" he yelled loudly.

"What have I done?" I asked self-consciously.

He frowned.

"You know what you've done," he said angrily. "You're an imposter. Everyone, she's only here to spy on the Club. Her stupid chess club wants to beat us in popularity."

The room went deathly silent. All eyes were on me, and none of them were friendly glances.

"Miyoko, is it true?" Fuiju cried.

I didn't have much choice. There was no way I was getting out of this one.

"Yes," I stuttered quietly, "it is."

Everyone gasped, except Kyoya who was writing in his notebook.

"Kyoya, did you know?" Tamaki asked, sounding upset.

"Of course," he said bluntly. "But I didn't see the significance. But now everyone knows, I suppose there's no choice."

He snapped his notebook shut.

"Tamaki," Kyoya said, "I believe you, as president, should do the honours."

He passed me a contract of some sort.

"Miyoko Takaki, you are hereby banned from ever entering the Host Club's room again," said Tamaki, wiping his tears away. "Sign here."

He pointed to a line on the paper, with the notation, "Betrayer's Signature", on it. As I signed, I glanced up at Kaoru. He hastily avoided my gaze.

What had I done to upset him?


	22. Chapter 22

**Wow, this is the 22****nd**** chapter… never thought that Miyoko-chan would make it this far…**

**Anyways, enjoy and please review!**

**And as I'm sure that you have noticed, I don't own Ouran!**

**Chapter 22 – Aftermath**

There was only one place where I could go after being banned from the Host Club. It had been my source of comfort for years and years. That place was the library.

I'm not sure exactly how long I stayed there, huddled amongst the tall shelves filled with stories of lives so much better than my own. My entire body was numb; I couldn't bring myself to even cry. Chess Club activities had finished before I had left the Host Club, so I was completely alone. This relieved me in a small way; no-one was around to witness my misery and humiliation. The only thing I knew is that it was already dark by the time that my sister came looking for me. She was worried as always - I told her that I'd lost a major chess competition. For me, this excuse was reliable enough.

After the two of us arrived back at our somewhat lonely home, Kameko sent me immediately to bed early with a mug of warm hot chocolate and my favourite onigiri. She knew me well enough to know that I wanted to be left alone after 'losing'. I felt bad about lying to her, but I was sure that she wouldn't understand. There was no way that I needed another person upset over my actions. Instead of sleeping, I sat on my bed and cried silently for the first time all afternoon. I didn't even know why I was doing it; I had always hated the Host Club and being forced to pretend that I was happy to be there was the worst of all. Now that it was all over, why wasn't I rejoicing? There was something that I couldn't shake out of my mind. Was it the look on Tamaki's face when he realized that I'd been faking my obsession over him and deceiving the entire club – or perhaps the timid and hurt way that Fuiju had asked 'Is it true, Miyoko?'. These incidents and so many more had made me hang my head in shame today… but there was something else behind it. I'd always been an insensitive, self-centred person – I had heard those sorts of reactions from people for my entire life. That hadn't changed…

Fidgeting around on my bed, I thought of Kaoru – his beautiful amber eyes, the way that they lit up when he smiled at me. He had always been so kind, even when I was yelling in his face or hitting him. I guess that my twisted, self-centred personality had finally gotten the better of him. The only reason why he'd put up with my stupidity and obnoxious attitude for so long was probably because he was just too nice for his own good. He had trusted a girl like me too easily. I knew that this was definitely true, but that didn't change the reality that Kaoru had done this to me deliberately. It felt like a cold stab wound into my chest. Nothing had ever felt so horrible to me before, except for the moment I found out that my own parents had abandoned my family and Japan over a year ago. But why was I so concerned about him? In a way he had done me a massive favour. What had happened to make what should have been a huge relief comparable to the worst day of my life?

It had been a long time since night had fallen and I could feel my eyes drooping. I had spent so much time crying that I'd lost track of the time for the second time that day. My alarm clock (in the shape of a pawn, of course!) read eleven thirty pm. I was so tired, my entire body simply fell onto the warmth of my satin pillow. I didn't even bother to pull the covers over my body, despite the fact that it was a cold winter night. To my aching head and heart, it felt like falling asleep next to a warm fire.

_Maybe… it's because… he was always beside you, Miyoko… _

My pounding headache had not cleared one bit by the morning. It had taken nearly all of my remaining energy to stumble out of my bed and downstairs. I was still wearing my school uniform from the day before. My body was so tired that it took me half an hour just to change into fresh clothes.

"Miyoko, breakfast is ready!" Kameko called cheerfully from the kitchen as I was tying my shoes.

"Coming!" I called nervously.

I had only just made it downstairs when she burst into the dining room, happily covered in flour and half of the tamagoyaki* which was this morning's meal.

"No thanks, Kameko, I'm not really hungry." I said, hurriedly brushing down my wild mane of hair which was the result of much tossing and turning. "I'm running late anyway. Goodbye!"

I attempted to sneak past and escape to the safety of the bus stop (Kameko had decided to get rid of our limousine to save the money we had left). Unfortunately, noting could stop the roving eyes of my older sister.

"Are you alright, Miyoko?" she asked worriedly, gently touching my shoulder. "You've been acting a little strange lately. Has something happened?"

"Mmm…" I mumbled vaguely.

"You've put your shoes on the wrong feet," she pointed out.

I peered down at my shoes perplexedly and realized that she was right.

"Oh, I'll fix them!" I exclaimed hurriedly, quickly slipping the offending footwear into their correct positions. "That was stupid, right Kameko?"

My bright hysteria didn't faze her.

"See ya!" I said hurriedly, "There's the bus!"

I had survived another questioning.

My face burned as I entered the crowded classroom. I was used to being ignored, but this time there was certain hostility about the way which everyone avoided my eyes which really unsettled me. I could feel people glaring at me whenever I turned my back. I couldn't blame them – the Host Club was by far the most popular club in the entire school. In their eyes, I was the worst of the worst – not only had I lied to them for six months, I had also make Tamaki, the Chairman's son and most popular guy in school cry. However, that was just the beginning.

I had barely sat down at my school desk when Hikaru stormed up and slapped me across the face. A large gasp emitted from across the entire of 1-A.

"What do you want?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"How could you do that to Tono?" he asked angrily.

I held my stinging cheek silently. There was nothing I could say to him – not even I knew the answer to his question. Hikaru's eyes flashed dangerously. It was clear that he was just getting started.

"Tono set up a club that has brought happiness to many people, yet you just come in and deceive all of it! Not just him, but your friends and everyone who cares about you at this school! How could you do this to people who care about you? You can be guaranteed that no one's going to join your stupid chess club now!" he continued. "Are you happy now, Takaki?"

His eyes watered as if he were about to cry. Hikaru put his face in his hands, obviously trying to hold himself back. I never knew that the Host Club meant so much to him. Seeing him so distraught brought tears to my own eyes as well. Why had I been so cruel and selfish to everyone? I'd ignorantly passed them all off as weirdoes and fangirls, as I did with nearly everyone I met.

"Hikaru," Kaoru said awkwardly, touching his brother's arm gently. "Let's go."

I'm certain that he glanced back nervously as he led Hikaru away, but there was no way I could meet his eyes now.

"He's right, you know," Kita spoke up, barely trying to keep the heated tone out of her voice. "How could you do this to us, Miyoko?"

"We were your friends," Fuiju added spitefully, breaking the silence even more.

I lowered my head. At last the tears which I had been holding back for so long were pouring down my cheeks. I was too ashamed to let my feelings show. I had no right anymore. Every cruel comment that my classmates said was deserved entirely.

After school, every girl and half of the boys headed down to Music Room 3, most of them supporting teddy bears, chocolates, flowers or cards filled with their pity. I'd heard that Tamaki was still very upset about the entire incident. Even Haruhi was ignoring me – that meant that it must have been true. There was nothing I could do but head down to the library and face Naoko's wrath.

As I opened the door that I knew so well a wave of cherry blossom petals floated out for no reason at all. I gulped.

"Welcome!" the Chess Club said in unison, all four of them dressed up in feudal Japan attire.

There was something very familiar about this scene.

***Japanese rolled omelet. I didn't know what this was either until the magic of Google enlightened me :D**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hi people, thank you for reading chapter 23! Please review if you have time!**

**Anyways, I don't own Ouran ;) **

**Chapter 23 – Ouran High School Chess-Host Club **

The scene that lay before me was horrifying. Not that I'd expected anything less of Naoko, of course.

My beloved library had been transformed into a room that closely mirrored that of the Host Club. The books and desks had disappeared somewhere and new lounges and tables had been placed in their memory. In one corner, there was even a chef serving up the commonest instant coffee that money could buy. The only thing which distinguished this former haven of nerds and books was the marble chess tables positioned whimsically around the room. Makeover or no makeover, this was still the Ouran High School Chess Club.

The four members had arranged themselves into an odd formation which looked very hard to untangle. As expected, Naoko took the centre place in the knot, with the three junior members twisted around him. After a painful second of stunned silence on my part, they finally seemed to realize that they had not stumbled across a potential customer, but their very own (failed) double agent.

"Ah, Takaki! It's you!" one of the junior members called happily. "How do we look?"

I was about to answer when Naoko interrupted.

"Ojima!" he scolded. "Get a hold of yourself! She may be one of our own, but she is a perfect practice partner before the new members begin to arrive. Watch me."

Sliding himself out of the formation with difficulty, he staggered up to me and kissed my hand gently. I stared, dumb folded, whilst resisting the growing urge to gag. Unfortunately, it was getting harder and harder to keep a straight face.

"Welcome, my lady," Naoko greeted, bowing politely, "Would you like a game?"

Smiling widely, he gestured to a plush, ornate armchair in front of a chessboard that I'm sure was not there the day before.

"Um, okay?" I replied, somewhat stunned by the transformation.

"We hope that you enjoy your time here today with us, my lady," he gushed, attempting to lead me by hand to the board.

I sat down and stretched my fingers. The first match of the 'new and improved' chess club was about to begin.

"So, how am I doing, my lady?" he asked, carefully moving the first pawn of the game across two spaces.

I paused, thinking. He was saying exactly what I'd described about the hosting, but the way he said it was so monotonic that it was as if he was attending a major business meeting rather than entertaining girls. Still, I didn't want to get on his bad side…

"It's great," I complimented falsely, edging my own black pawn into the game as if it was the most exciting thing in the world.

He looked pleased – well, as pleased as an emotionless chess mastermind could look.

"Excellent, the plan is working," he replied smugly as our game continued. "At this rate, the prestige and honour of our club here will double over the next two days."

I stared out of the window, gazing up to the south campus where I knew the Host Club resided, and felt a strange sense of longing. Why was it that I felt out of place in the club which had been my home since my first day of High School? At least the Host Club had always been happy to have me rather than only be greedy for my skills and uses to them.

"Checkmate," he said simply after a few minutes of play.

I shrugged gently and begun to pack up. For once the prospect of losing to Naoko didn't seem as terrible as usual. There were too many things on my mind to care right now, starting with the Chess Club president himself.

Time passed quickly when I was no longer a customer of the Host Club. After two weeks since I'd been kicked out, life had nearly returned to the way it had been before this entire mess began. There were three main differences: firstly, I knew that my parents were never coming home from their travels. Secondly, the library had become a copy of the school's most popular student club, including its five members. Thirdly… I now felt a stabbing pain in my chest whenever I thought of the Host Club, especially Kaoru. I lost count of how many times I had wished over the past fortnight for things to have not changed at all.

"Check, Ojima-Sempai," I said disinterestedly as we sat in the library one afternoon. "It's your turn."

"What?" he gasped mournfully, pounding the chess table in despair. "How am I ever going to become a famous chess player if I can't even beat a first year?"

"Hey stop it," I said hurriedly, grabbing his arm before he managed to knock the head off his own king. "It's just check, you know. I haven't won _yet_."

He blinked.

"Oh, yeah," he mumbled, clearly embarrassed.

"She's right, Ojima," Naoko said stately as he walked past. "You must become more assertive if you wish to be successful in business."

Ojima and I exchanged confused glances. Since when was I lecturing him about career options?

"Um – "I began nervously.

"Ah, yes, Takaki," Naoko continued sternly, focusing his concentration on me. "Please report to my desk after Club activities has ceased. It's very important."

"What is it, President?" I asked politely.

He shook his head, looking surprisingly stressed for such a stoic person.

"Just make sure that you make an appearance."

As soon as the clock hit five pm and activities ended for the day, Naoko whisked me away to his desk.

"So what have I done?" I asked impatiently, already daydreaming of reading the new romance novel that I'd picked up at the book store over the weekend.

He cleared his throat and shuffled his signature paperwork around on his otherwise spotless desk.

"Come on," I said encouragingly, trying to speed up his usual routine.

"It has been two weeks since you reported to me saying that your mission was complete, has it not?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied, frowning. "What about it?"

"According to my calculations, the membership of this club should have increased by at least fifty percent," he drawled. "So please enlighten me, Takaki. Why have we not seen one new person enter? Perhaps your position should be reconsidered…"

I shifted uncomfortably. How was I going to say this?

"They… um, kicked me out, President," I admitted awkwardly. "Everyone… found out… your plan. They aren't going to come."

Naoko clenched his fist tightly, but retained his temper. However, the aura surrounding him was so menacing that I could practically hear my vice presidency going down the drain.

"Was it your intention to sabotage my future, Takaki?" he asked calmly.

His _future_? Since when had a high school chess club had anything to do with his future?

"No, President," I denied.

He didn't look convinced. This situation was so uncomfortable that I could feel small beads of sweat forming on my forehead. I needed to get out, fast.

"Hey, um, let's – " I began nervously.

"You may or may not be aware of the fact that my father gave me a proposition a few weeks before I assigned you this delicate task?" he asked rhetorically, smoothing a stray strand of black hair from his eyes.

"No, President," I repeated desperately.

I didn't like the direction that this confession was taking at all.

"If I succeed in making this club here a substantial business project, he will allow me to use all of his business staff at my personal disposal to create my own company which will rival even the Suohs," he explained. "Through my tireless amounts of research and discovery, this was by far the best technique for success. I could increase my customers, and diminish some of the power which the Suoh, Ootori, Hitachiin, Haninozuka and Morinozuka families have over our current industry. I'll admit that I don't particularly care for the methods which the Host Club uses, but they are nevertheless effecti – "

Naoko was never able to finish his long winded description of the one hundred and one ways that he was a complete dictator. Without thinking, I had punched him swiftly in the stomach, cutting him off midsentence.

I couldn't believe what I had done. But this hadn't ended yet.

"How can you say that?" I began quietly. "Tamaki-sempai had complete trust in me, and you. What the host club does may be stupid, yet it still has a lot more customers than you'll ever _dream_ of. Its members may be the heirs of five extremely powerful families in all of Japan, but at least they don't run their club on some twisted moral of success!"

I was shouting now. There was no way that I would have said any of this to Naoko Hayashi six months ago. But then, I was a different person now.

"Well, what are you going to use as an excuse this time?" I asked, unable to keep the anger out of my voice.

To my surprise, Naoko ignored me completely and began to write a small note down in his notebook.

"Hmm… just as I thought," he mumbled knowingly to himself. "It was a mistake on my part to employ a girl with your _history_ as my spy… with your parents the way they are. This arrangement will need some rethinking…"

I slammed my palms down on the oak table, causing him to jump.

"Don't talk about my parents like that," I pleaded quietly, a single tear dripping onto the front of my school dress. "I have _nothing_ in common with them."

I slid to the floor, tears slowly joining that lonely first. Why did it feel like everyone I knew was turning against me?

In my breaking down, I had forgotten about Naoko. I looked up to the desk anxiously – and froze. At last I had broken his visage. For the first time since I'd entered this school, he looked angry.

I stumbled over my own feet in my attempts to stand up. This was bad.

Naoko cleared his throat, regaining his usual stoic disposition. Stacking his papers away, he stroked his small black notebook and pen.

"Well, this has been a rather _interesting _turn of events, hasn't it Takaki?"

**Whoa… long… XD**

**Yet again, my completely novice chess knowledge has been put to the test in this chapter…**


	24. Chapter 24

**Yay! Kyah! Squee! XD**

**Finally written chap 24! Combination of school, writer's block and recent addiction to Fullmetal Alchemist has been delaying this chapter…**

**Anyways, I don't own anything except Miyoko and a few other randoms.**

**Chapter 24 – Cake!**

I sighed at the picture of myself splayed across the front page of Ou-Spo. It was from way back – my hair was longer and thicker than its usual wispy shoulder length and I was still wearing my old dark brown middle school uniform. Underneath the photo was the headline 'Betrayer strikes again!'

Rolling my eyes, I put the paper back down on whoever's desk I had found it lying on. Why did those naïve Newspaper Club writers have to believe everything that Naoko said?

With no Chess or Host Club to go home, I had suddenly found myself having a lot more spare time. _Maybe this is a good thing, _I thought sadly as rested my head in my arms and waited for Kameko to pick me up.

I felt guilty about not telling her everything that had happened, but how could I start? She was already worried enough for the two of us. She didn't need the extra weight handed to her that I had singlehandedly destroyed any hope that I had ever had at actually having friends at this school.

Naoko had handled my 'betrayal' in his usual businesslike way – like I was a bad worker in his company rather than a member of a 'free-to-join' high school club. Officially, he had 'released me from his employment'. It seemed a far cry from what had really happened. Things were handled differently in the Naoko world.

The dark room was silent; all of the other students were either at club activities or had been chauffeured to their various manors and estates. The eerie stillness was somewhat a relief to my exhausted brain. There was no-one to ask me hurtful questions about my parents, why I had gone undercover or anything else. They always unsettled me. I was never sure how to answer; I didn't know the reasons myself.

The gentle tick of the clock was slowly becoming louder and louder as I waited. Vaguely I wondered what strange cosplay the Hosts were entertaining their customers with today.

Although I had always believed that the Host Club was stupid, I'd been a lot happier than before. It may be silly, crazy, and whimsical… but it had always made me laugh, even if it was about the pure absurdity of it all.

That time was all over now. Tamaki especially, would surely hate me for what I had done to him and the club. If only I could…

My chair fell askew as I ran out of the classroom. There were still a few minutes until my sister would arrive. _I had time_.

Why was it that I was able to run fast now when I'd always come last in important competitions?

Strangely, this was the thought that plagued my mind as I ran wildly through the east campus, the sports ground, the courtyard, the tennis courts…

Despite my mysterious speed, it seemed like a lifetime had passed by the time I finally reached it.

On the top floor of the South Campus…

And along the north corridor…

I opened the door to Music Room Three despite the large 'closed' sign. For once I was glad that those random sakura petals were there to greet me.

The first person who caught my eye was Mori. He blinked in surprise but didn't say anything and continued to help Honey out of that day's cosplay. I smiled gratefully. Mori's stoic personality was usually annoying, but today it seemed like a good thing.

"Takaki," Haruhi said bluntly, "Why are you here?"

I blushed, aware that all of their eyes were on me. Some were angry, some upset, some confused – and one pair where a mixture of all three. I gulped nervously. At last I was going to make things right.

Tamaki shivered in fear as I walked towards him, ignoring the accusing stares of the other Hosts. He was still in his costume and had clearly been getting over excited again – his cloak was stained with Honey's latest cake. It only took one glance to know that it had been the twins who had thrown it.  
"What are you doing here?" he asked nervously.

I didn't listen. Instead, I punched him lightly in the stomach and enveloped him in a hug.

"Sorry, idiot," I said into the folds of his rather poufy outfit. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Tamaki-Sempai."

"But aren't you a member of the Yakuza who are secretly conspiring against us?" he asked awkwardly.

I pushed him away, frowning. Why were rumours exaggerated so much at this school?

"Yakuza?" I asked. "Hell no. I'm just a stupid chess nerd."

Tamaki had his idiot face on in full force. Even though I was determined not to hurt the Club anymore, I was finding it very difficult to control myself.

"Hey you," I shouted angrily, kicking him flat onto the ground. "I said I was _sorry_! You could at least say something instead of making me stand here like an idiot!"

He laughed, rubbing his sore arms from where I'd knocked him down.

"Yes, Miyoko, I understand," he said happily.

"So Miyo-chan has changed her mind about us and Tama-chan?" Honey piped up.

"Yes," I confirmed, smiling hopefully.

Would that be enough?

It was only logical that everyone in the room, except Kaoru who I noticed was staring firmly at the floor as if it were the most interesting carpet he'd ever seen, turned straight to Kyoya. He cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses. The final verdict was up to the Demon King.

"If Takaki is willing to make sure that she _never _joins another school club for the duration of her school life at Ouran, then I will be perfectly happy to revoke her ban," he said calmly. "There will also be a small fee regarding the twenty packets of designer tissues that Tamaki has used since your incident. Is that alright?"

He smiled coolly.

_No, it's not alright!_ I thought desperately. _He really is the 'Shadow King'._

"Yeah that's fine!" I exclaimed a little too happily.

"Excellent."

The next day at school, the other students could tell that something was different. For a start, I arrived in Classroom 1-A to find Honey sitting on my desk, eating his morning cake.

"Miyo-chan!" he called happily, blissfully unaware of my gaped expression and the confused frowns of my classroom. "Want to have some cake? Tama-chan said that I could come and eat cake with you every morning!"

Smiling widely, he ate a large forkful of cake, so large that I was surprised that he managed to fit it into his small mouth. By now, the students of 1-A were no longer even pretending not to stare.

"Um, that's alright, Honey-Sempai," I replied, dumb folded. "I had a… big breakfast."

Truthfully, all I had eaten was a small _onigiri_ as I was walking out the door, but a little lying wouldn't hurt him.

"Okay, Miyo-chan," he said cheerfully, taking the bait, "That means I get to eat more cake, right?"

Despite the innocent expression he wore, I knew this was all a cunning plan. Honey seriously had a dark side. I nodded encouragingly, watching with slight horror as he squashed an even larger helping of stickiness through his lips.

"Honey-sempai, what are you doing in our classroom?" Hikaru asked loudly.

He had just arrived with Haruhi and his brother.

"Hello, Hika-chan, Haru-chan and Kao-chan!" he greeted warmly. "Usa-chan and I felt like having cake with Miyo-chan!"

He blinked.

"But she's not eating," he pointed out. "All I can see is you dropping crumbs on her desk."

"Besides," Kaoru added, "isn't class about to start anyway?"

I felt myself shrinking into my chair. Although I had apologized to Tamaki and the Host Club, I was still in the dark as to why Kaoru had told them in the first place.

"Mitsukuni," Mori said quietly, appearing from nowhere. "It's time to go."** *****

He had been there the whole time, I realized at last.

At last Honey and Mori had left, leaving my desk a mess of cake crumbs. However, I barely had a minute of peace before they were replaced by the curious questions of my classmates.

"What happened, Miyoko?"

"I thought you were against them?"

"Didn't you try to take down Honey-Sempai with nothing but a broken shinai? How come you're eating cake with him?"

I blinked. How did they manage to come up with that?

After spending the morning denying rumour after rumour about my violent confrontations with Mori, Honey and even Kyoya, the class still hadn't gotten bored of questioning the 'reformed betrayer'. At last I had managed to give them the slip and had escaped to the safety of the empty classroom to eat my bento. I sighed in relief.

"Miyoko?" a familiar voice asked nervously from the doorway, interrupting my moment of peace.

It was Fuiju.

"Um, hi," I mumbled awkwardly, my mouth full of rice.

"Is it true that you made friends with the Host Club despite the fact that just last week you beat up Mori so badly that he was landed in hospital with a fractured collarbone?"

What was wrong with this school?

*****Everyone cheer for Mori XD It's his first spoken line ever in this story!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hi people! Sorry for the long wait...**

**By the way, this story probably only has a few chapters left (depending on whether I decide to do an epilogue, I'm scared it'd turn out cheesy! .)**

**Oh well, I'll do my best! :D YEAH! (randomness)**

**I do not own Ouran, and sadly never will.**

**Chapter 25 – **

At last. Peace and quiet. I had managed to escape Kita, Fuiju, and the members of the Host Club for the first time in a week. Although I was no longer an avid member of the Chess Club, there was still something comforting about the pristine board of a new chess match. However, all of these great things about chess didn't make up for the fact that there wasn't much point playing by yourself.

Why wasn't I happy even now? Everything was fine again – I'd been telling myself that for the past week. I had made everything right with Tamaki and the club, but yet I still felt miserable, especially when I found myself facing an empty chess table. Despite the fact that his friends were annoying me every waking minute of the day (I'd even gotten a phone call from Tamaki at five am a day ago), Kaoru still hadn't even met my eyes since the day he ratted my secret out to the club and the customers. I sighed. Maybe this was what I deserved. I guess I pushed everyone, even a kind person like Kaoru, over the edge.

"Miyo-chan!"

I rolled my eyes at the sight of Kita standing at the library door, her face red with a combination of effort and fatigue. Her eyes were filled with excitement.

"What is it?" I asked wearily.

"I've been looking for you everywhere, Miyo-chan!" she exclaimed.

Somehow, she had come under the terrible influence of Honey-Sempai and had adopted the name of 'Miyo-chan' for me. I was kind of glad that we were friends again (my taste was so off these days) but I would have to put my foot down if she wanted it to stay that way.

"Miyo-chan," she piped up again, causing me to wince at the sound of _that_ name, "You're still acting strangely. Are you going to be cruel to us like before?"

Her expression was suddenly a mixture of fear and disappointment. I felt ashamed. Even now, they were still afraid that I'd betray them again.

"It's nothing, Kita," I replied, laughing shyly. "I just – don't know why Kaoru is avoiding me, that's all."

Including that last sentence was one of the worst decisions of my life.

For once in her life, Kita was completely silent. She stared at me with a large frown on her face – before erupting into a squeal that could probably be heard all the way across to Mount Fuji.

"Eeeeeeeekkkkkkkk!" she continued, her voice so loud that I had to cover my ears.

"What's wrong?"I yelled uncertainly. Even though I should have been used to her antics after all this time, I still had no idea what was going on.

"You're so in love with Kaoru!" she exclaimed loudly, nearly jumping up and down in delight.

"What? No!"I denied quickly, turning away so she wouldn't see my bright red face.

Somewhere deep inside me knew that what she had said was the truth.

"Kita, that's silly!"I laughed nervously. "What makes you think that I-"

"Oh, Miyo-chan, I can see the drama now," she interrupted gleefully, clearly no longer in touch with reality. "A high school boy, absolutely torn between the desire for his new flame and the forbidden, homosexual love for his dearest twin brother! I'm so excited! This is nearly as epic as _Home and Away_!"

I wondered why she was comparing Kaoru to an Australian soap opera briefly between menacing thoughts and a desire to punch Kita through the window. Plus, she had just called me Miyo-chan AGAIN.

"I'm sure that's not it," I reasoned.

Instead of staying quiet, she suddenly looked at me with the most pitiful glance I'd ever seen.

"Aww, have I scared you?" she asked with genuine concern.

I twitched, praying for Kita's own sake that she would realize how close she was edging towards death.

"I'm sure you have a chance, Miyo-chan!" she continued in a reassuring, slightly sickening tone.

I groaned under my breath, swallowing a death threat.

"What's wrong, Miyoko?" asked Hikaru as he passed by my small desk at the back of the classroom.

"You're white as a sheet," Haruhi added bluntly from behind him.

Kita opened her mouth to answer, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

"Nothing," I replied quickly, saving myself from any further displays of her wild fantasies.

"Kaoru, what is the answer to this question on the board?" Iwamoto-sensei asked after lunch during maths class.

I looked over at his desk as Kaoru calmly recited the required answer to the question, deep in thought. It was now early March, only a few weeks away from spring break and the end of the school year. How long did he plan on avoiding me? I needed to know what I had done to offend him so badly – otherwise how would I be able to enter the second year without becoming a better person than I had been for my first?

Today, at the end of the Host Club's meeting, I would make up some ruse for Tamaki and the others before asking him directly, without any regret. This time, he surely wouldn't evade me… right?"

Random floating sakura petals were, as usual, waiting to greet me as I opened the ornate door to Music Room Three. Some things would just never change. I went over to the small group of ornate lounges where Tamaki usually entertained his group of rabid fangirls. Wearing yet another cosplay outfit, his eyes lit up happily as he saw me approaching.

"Welcome, my princess!"

I sat down at the spare spot beside him, smiling as happily as possible.

"Hi, Tamaki-sempai."

As the afternoon continued, it became obvious that Kaoru hadn't turned up. Trying to be as discrete as possible, I began to eavesdrop on Hikaru and his clients.

"Where's Kaoru today?" the girls asked in confusion.

Strangely, Hikaru burst into laughter.

"He has a cold, but it scared him so much that he was crying! He kept asking me if he was going to die! So he… went home."

I frowned. Hikaru was smiling widely and keeping up with his act, even when Kaoru was gone. I could still tell that there was something strange about that smile.

Finishing early at the club – there was no point anymore – I decided to go to the library and borrow the long awaited first volume of 'Summer Stained Romance'. I started walking faster, looking forward to getting my hands on the book.

I searched through the new arrivals section which was right beside the large wooden front desk. As I was reading, I began to realize that I was no longer alone. Turning around, I saw Kaoru sitting by the window. He was right next to my favourite chessboard. He was firmly staring out the window, his eyes following the movement of many soccer players on the sports ground below. His eyes were slightly wet and I could see some tear stains on his cheeks. I wondered whether or not he had noticed me.

"Kaoru?"I asked uncertainly. "Aren't you supposed to be sick?"

He jumped, startled at the sound of my voice. For a moment he stared at my face, before hastily standing. The chessboard, my favourite, was sent crashing to the ground.

"Listen to me, Kaoru," I pleaded desperately, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket tightly.

"I have to go," he replied quietly as before, his clear amber eyes focused pointedly on the floor. In a mere five seconds I was alone in the library once more. Looking around at the exquisite antique painting and the endless shelves of books, I thought about the first time I had set out of this room as a new spy of the Ouran High Chess Club.

"I only wanted an answer," I muttered, my mind flaming with new anger.

How dare he keep running away! However, my anger didn't change the fact that my voice echoed slightly in the empty space, calling for a reply that was long gone.

The Host Club was supposed to 'bring happiness to girls'… so why had it achieved just the opposite?

I sighed, preparing to give up and head to the fiction section. At least you knew where you were with books. As I turned around, sudden footsteps thudded loudly across the corridor. It sounded like the feet, whoever they belonged to, were running – fast. I jumped, startled, as the owner of the footsteps burst the door open.


	26. Chapter 26

**I'm back! With a vengeance! :D I'm sorry for disappearing for so long; I lost a lot of confidence in my writing. But, I've decided that I don't care anymore if my stories are terrible! Wahahaha!**

**Disclaimer: Ouran is not mine, although it is awesome. **

**Chapter 26 - (argh! I just realized I forgot to give Chapter 25 a title! D:) Mistakes**

I jumped at the sound of footsteps approaching. Suddenly the library did not seem like so much of a safe haven.

_Is it Kaoru? _I thought desperately. I needed him to listen to me this time.

The door opened, revealing a familiar figure. He was puffing as if he had just run a race.

"Kaoru are you – "Hikaru began in a strained voice before noticing me behind the fiction shelf. "Oh, it's just you, Miyoko."

His eyes were lined with dark shadows. It was obvious that he hadn't had much sleep lately. For some reason, it seemed like Hikaru was just as stressed as his own twin brother. Maybe he knew the reason?

"Sorry, you just missed him," I explained, frowning. "But wasn't he supposed to be home with a cold?"

He looked disconcerted as I stared him down.

"He – He's been acting strange lately. All he told me was that he was going to the library and not to wait for him."

I sighed. So Kaoru hadn't told his brother. I really was a terrible person - I had made yet another member of the Host Club suffer because of my actions.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Hikaru," I apologised. "It's my fault. He's been acting strangely because I have done something to offend him. I don't know what exactly, but I'm sorry."

Hikaru frowned. His amber eyes, so similar to his brother's, were narrowed.

"He hasn't said anything about you to me," he said, confirming my fears.

"Must've been even worse that I thought," I mumbled, feeling ashamed.

For a second, I thought I heard Hikaru muttering something under his breath that sounded like 'that idiot'. But surely he wouldn't say that about his own brother? I must have been hearing things…

"Come with me," he said suddenly, holding out his hand. "Maybe we can find him together."

Somehow, I found myself walking down the still-lit North corridor with Hikaru. Despite his usual cheerful attitude, he was deathly quiet.

"So," he said finally after several minutes of silence. "Kaoru tells me that you like reading."

My heart skipped a beat. Had Kaoru told him about my secret cheesy romance novel obsession?

"Really?" I stumbled, blushing. "What did he… say about it?"

Luckily, Hikaru looked confused.

"Nothing," he replied, suspicious. "Just that you like books."

I felt relieved. Hikaru was a bigger idiot than I'd imagined. My reputation as a major nerd had not been compromised. However, it would still be a lot safer if I changed the subject altogether.

"Um… I think Kaoru said he was going this way," I said quickly, pointing down a random corridor to the left.

Hikaru frowned, reading the sign posted above one of the doors in this direction.

"You must have misheard," he replied. "I doubt that Kaoru would be interested in the flower arranging club."

Thankfully he hadn't realized that I was lying through my teeth.

"Maybe he's left the school," I wondered aloud, after nearly half an hour of unsuccessful searching.

I had never done this much walking in my life. My school shoes were rubbing uncomfortably against my feet, and I was so tired that I felt like lying down on the cold floor and going to sleep right there.

"There he is!" Hikaru said suddenly, gesturing towards our empty classroom of 1-A.

I squinted into the dark windows. Sure enough, Kaoru was sitting on his desk with his head in his arms. My heart began to beat faster nervously. This time, I would find out everything – and there was no way I was letting him get away without answers.

I clenched my fists together and prepared to go in. However, Hikaru grabbed my arm tightly before I could do anything.

"Stay here for now," he whispered urgently. "I'll handle this part."

He charged inside the empty classroom, slamming the door behind him. However, a mixture of curiosity and desperation got the better of me. I soon found myself peering at the two by opening the door slightly. I watched as Kaoru looked up, his beautiful amber eyes full of surprise, just in time to see his brother's looming figure over the desk.

"You're an idiot, Kaoru!" Hikaru shouted animatedly. "Do you really think I care about stuff like that?"

"What are you talking about?" he replied bewilderedly.

Hikaru looked angrier than I'd ever seen him before. However, I was just as confused as Kaoru over his intentions. I was sick of not knowing anything, and there was no way that I was leaving school today without answers. Moving quietly, I opened the door further and walked inside to join the twins.

"Hikaru, what _are _you talking about? I repeated.

He glared at me.

"You were supposed to stay outside!"

Almost like a reflex, my brown school shoe hit him in the shin as I kicked him, hard. How dare he try and treat me like a stupid kid! Members of the host club seemed to have a very large knack for getting on my nerves.

"What was that for?" he asked angrily, glaring at me.

"She does that all the time, Hikaru," Kaoru explained quietly. "You get used to the bruises after a while."

I had given him bruises before? Maybe I really did need to control my temper… but Hikaru had undeniably deserved it!

"Tough! Stop having the nerve to insult me like that when you won't even tell me what's going on!" I yelled back. "It's not fair to just keep me in the dark like this, Hikaru! I'm the one who has done something terrible to Kaoru after all!"

Hikaru opened his mouth furiously.

"Miyoko, you haven't done anything wrong," he explained irritably, glaring at his brother.

Kaoru was startled by the cold stare of his own brother. He still looked terribly confused over all of the commotion – exactly how I felt myself.

"What's going on?" he asked tentatively.

"Kaoru, you really are an idiot!" Hikaru repeated. "I know why you're doing this! Did you think that I wouldn't notice that you started shunning her away after I was rejected by Haruhi?"

Kaoru's eyes widened as he blushed a deep fuchsia.

"But Hikaru," he protested weakly, "how did you – "

"What is going on?" I interjected pointedly for what seemed like the fiftieth time.

Kaoru's eyes quickly darted downwards to his fingernails.

"He's trying to be self sacrificial, as always," Hikaru explained bluntly. "He thinks that his happiness will hurt me. He likes you, but doesn't want to say anything because Haruhi rejected me. Do you really think that I'm that fragile, you idiot?"

I looked from brother to brother, my eyes wide with shock. Kaoru… liked me? That wasn't possible. As I pondered, Kaoru stared fixatedly at the desk as if it was the most interesting object in the world, avoiding eye-contact with his brother and me.

"I don't need you to worry so much about Haruhi and I," Hikaru continued, softer this time. "Did you really think I'd be happier watching you make yourself miserable? You are such a stupid younger brother!"

For a moment, he fell silent. Hikaru's eyes glazed over and he grit his teeth.

"I thought I told you that nothing can change the fact that we're still twins!" he said finally, before running out of the empty classroom and slamming the door behind him. *

Realizing that we were now alone, I blushed. Had Hikaru been telling the truth?

"Umm… is that true Kaoru?" I asked timidly, breaking the awkward silence which had existed for what seemed like a century since Hikaru's departure.

Keeping his eyes firmly fixed upon the desk, Kaoru nodded tentatively.

"I'm sorry," he replied quietly.

***So this is my slightly AU version of volume 11-13. Hope it's not too confusing, I just made some changes. (Like the hair dying)**

**Hope you enjoyed this, sorry for the super long wait. I'll have Chapter 27 ready and up in a few days. Leave a review, constructive criticism greatly appreciated!**


	27. Chapter 27

***sniff* Last chapter… Thanks for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed reading ****The Imposter**** as much as I did writing it :D This is the first fanfiction that I've written, so I hope the ending is okay… *dies from cheesiness* As this is the last chapter, I tried to make it really long! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything apart from my Miyo-chan. **

**Chapter 27 (final) – Change**

For the first time since Hikaru and I had found him in the classroom, Kaoru lifted his gaze from the fixation with his desk. His eyes were glazed and he was biting his lip nervously.

"I'm sorry," Kaoru repeated softly. "It's just… Hikaru… I…"

"You… you said…" I stuttered.

He blushed.

"Hey, let's get out of here," I said quickly, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him out of the classroom.

I couldn't look back at his face.

I wasn't even sure where I was leading him. Our familiar classroom had suddenly seemed too small. My head was still spinning with everything that Hikaru had said - before I knew it, we were standing in front of a large commoner shopping centre.

"Why did you take me here?" Kaoru wondered aloud.

I shrugged. But we had the opportunity, so…

"Do you want to go in and find a bookshop?" I asked nervously.

We found a bookshop on the second level of the complex. I ran in immediately, eager to escape from Kaoru. Romance novels always gave me courage. There was just something special about dramatic, unrealistic and cheesy storylines. I took the nearest book from the shelf and began reading. I frowned in concentration, but the words still seemed to flow right over me. My hands were shaking, and for the first time, books were not enough to take my mind of everything.

"Miyoko," Kaoru said, catching up to me and putting his hand on my shoulder.

I jumped at his touch. His amber eyes were as beautiful as ever,

"I'm sorry," he said for the third time before embracing me tightly.

I dropped the book in surprise. My heart was beating fast as I remembered all of the times Kaoru had been kind to me. However, I had never returned the favour to him by only thinking about myself. Perhaps it was time to start now. All I had ever cared about was becoming the President of the Chess Club, but thanks to him, I had made friends with Kita, Fuiju, Tamaki and everyone else in the Host Club. Slowly, I returned the hug.

"Thank you," I said softly. "You're such a kind person, Kaoru. I'm a self-interested liar, but you never got angry or frustrated even when I kept hitting you all the time. So… thank you."

I was incredibly glad that the store was virtually empty at this time of the evening.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled softly.

I broke away from him and closed my eyes. Would he accept?

"Well, to be honest I've gotten used to all of the… violence," he clarified. "It doesn't even hurt anymore…"

I opened my eyes. Kaoru was smiling for the first time in weeks.

"_What is that supposed to mean?" _I said through gritted teeth. "I just told you I was sorry! Do you even know how embarrassing that was? But _no_, you decide to further point my flaws!"

If he wasn't going to accept, then I would force it into him! However, Kaoru laughed as he looked at my determined face.

"W-What did I do?" I asked, blushing.

"Nothing," he replied, still chuckling. "You may be pretty self-interested, but I think that you're improving."

He hesitated, his face flushing.

"A-and I love you anyway," he said quietly, staring at the floor.

My eyes widened. Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his waist once more.

"Me too."

I didn't even know if I slept at all that night – the scene of Kaoru and I at the bookshop kept replaying itself over and over in my mind. At least the next day was Sunday, so I didn't have to go to school. I came down to the dining room that morning half asleep and incredibly grumpy.

"Miyoko, please don't tell me that you spent all night revising chess strategies again," Kameko said wearily as I took her coffee mug and drank it all in one gulp.

I grimaced at the taste. Why was it that I only remembered now how much I hated coffee?

"Sort of…" I mumbled, still reeling.

"Miyo-chan! Good morning!"

I turned around. Behind my sister, Kita and Fuiju were waving furiously. They looked as alive as ever. How did fangirls manage to have so much energy?

"They came at seven," Kameko explained cheerily. "I didn't know that you had such caring friends, Miyoko!"

"Let's go, Miyo-chan!" Kita said gleefully.

I frowned. Although smiling sweetly, her eyes gave off the impression of a lion stalking its prey.

"But I haven't had breakfast yet," I replied nervously.

"Let's go!" she repeated loudly.

Her smile turned into an evil grin as she took my arm. Fuiju and I were whisked away from the room before we could say a word in protest.

It was not until we had been pulled up the stairs and into my bedroom when Kita finally let the two of us go. As soon as the door was closed she barricaded it with one of the many piles of books. We were trapped, and worse still, she had found my secret stash of romance novels. Trembling, I braced myself for her reaction.

"Miyo-chan! Please let me borrow some of these sometime!" she exclaimed, picking up a well loved copy of 'Fool for Love'***.**

"O-Okay," I mumbled.

"What's going on, Kita?" Fuiju asked, clearly just as confused as I was.

"Miyo-chan is in love with Kaoru!" she said, her voice high with excitement. "I wanted to hear the latest drama of the Miyo-Kaoru-Hikaru soap opera!"

My bare feet suddenly became very interesting. Why was she bringing this up again?

"Miyo-Kaoru-Hikaru soap opera…" Fuiju repeated, frowning.

Kita nodded vivaciously.

"You see, Miyo-chan is in love with Kaoru, but they have been torn apart by the forbidden brotherly romance that he also shares with Hikaru! In my last instalment, Kaoru had been acting strangely, presumably because he has been having difficulty between choosing his new, passionate flame and the brother which he has loved and cared for many years," she ranted excitedly. "So Miyo-chan, has he chosen? Has your heart been torn out of your body and stomped under the twin's symmetrical feet, or is Hikaru hiding in a corner, crying over the younger brother he has always harboured sinful feelings for?"

I caught Fuiju's eye and shrugged. Clearly, Kita was more of a hopeless romance novel fan than I was. That itself was quite an achievement.

"Um… that's not really what happened…" I said quietly.

"Oh no! Did he reject you? No need to hide it," she continued mournfully. "There's nothing wrong with loving him, Miyo-chan! I'm sure he cares about you, it's just that he has someone else in his life that has been there from the very start!"

She burst into tears.

"How dare he lead you on only to turn you down and shove you into the gutter of unrequited love!"

"Are you going to listen?" I asked irritably, handing her a tissue. "I told you that's not what happened!"

I didn't want to admit that what she had said about my feelings for Kaoru were true, but at the same time I couldn't simply leave her to tell the entire school about the forbidden love triangle behind the Host Club. However, I hadn't expected it to take two hours to fully explain what had happened to the hysterical girl.

"That's so cute, Miyoko!" Fuiju exclaimed gleefully.

All Kita could manage at this point was an excited hiccup. I grimaced, my face feeling hot with embarrassment. I was dreading the next morning – although I would be able to see Kaoru again for the first time since that afternoon, dealing with their fantasies at the same time was another matter altogether.

Thankfully I arrived at school before Kaoru that morning.

"Hi, Miyo-chan!" Kita greeted cheerfully. "Thanks for the book, I enjoyed it!"

She pulled 'Fool for Love' out of her bag.

"Oh, thanks," I said distractedly, staring at the door.

"Why are you interested in those sorts of books, Miyoko?" Fuiju asked curiously. "I thought that you'd only read books about chess or something."

I ignored her. Kaoru had arrived at his desk and was laughing at something Haruhi had said. He caught my eye as I was watching him and blushed slightly.

"Good morning, Miyoko," he said kindly.

I nodded shyly, instinctively clamping my hands over the mouths of Kita and Fuiju. I didn't need them squealing in the background.

"Are you going to request the twins from now on, Miyoko?" Fuiju asked curiously as we headed towards Music Room 3 that afternoon.

"No," I said simply. "Tamaki would be devastated, and I can't hurt him again. He's been so nice to me."

I was in heaven. It had been nearly a week since Kaoru had told me the truth, and he had asked me if I wanted to play chess with him after school in the library. I sighed dreamily. The lure of a chess table and chairs surrounded by countless books was always so comforting.

"Isn't it so nice and stuffy in here, Kaoru?"

"Yeah," he replied reluctantly. _"Stuffy."_

I may have been in heaven, but for some strange reason Kaoru didn't appear to feel the same way. If anything, he looked like he wanted to jump out of a window. I frowned. Clearly he needed educating on what was a fun way to spend his time. After all of our interruptions, I would have to make use of the rest of the school year to teach him.

"Prepare to be annihilated!" I said gleefully as we sat down.

I was already planning my strategy twelve moves ahead.

Kaoru was still as quiet as ever as we began our game. I remembered how reluctant he always was to play, and frowned. He clearly hated chess – but today he had asked me to join him.

"Why did you want to play chess with me?" I asked.

Kaoru shrugged, blushing.

"You love it so much," he replied quietly. "With everything that's happened to you recently, I thought that I should help cheer you up. It's partially my fault after all. I'm sorry."

I gritted my teeth. He was still apologising all the time

"Stop telling me that you're sorry!" I yelled, loudly enough to receive a death glare from the passing librarian. "You don't have anything to feel sorry for!"

"But I told you about your parents… and I got you kicked out of both the Host Club and

Chess Club…" he mumbled weakly.

I rolled my eyes.

"Firstly, I deserved to be banned from the Host Club – after all I was a spy… and I left the Chess Club of my own accord. You had nothing to do with it." I pointed out angrily. "Secondly, I needed to know about my parents! I couldn't keep thinking that they were coming home when – "

My eyes began to water as I thought of them. It had been a year… and now I knew that they were never coming back.

"What would have been the point of just waiting for them to come home without knowing anything – I couldn't live like that!" I cried.

I began to sob hysterically. It was the first time that I had lost control cried about my parents since my sister had confirmed what Kaoru had told me.

After ten minutes, I had cheered up enough to continue the game. However, Kaoru was clearly out of practice. It only took me twenty moves to cream him.

"Checkmate," I declared happily.

Kaoru smiled. I'd forgotten with everything that had happened that he'd invited me here to cheer me up.

"Thank you," I said nervously.

"What for?"

"Losing, of course," I grinned.

His smile widened. Kaoru was always so kind, and I loved him for it. My heart was beating fast as I kissed him. He blushed immediately as I pulled away.

"I – I – "he stuttered, looking away. "I think we should go to the Club now…"

"Yeah."

I opened the door. As always, the random sakura petals floated in spirals from nowhere, but I no longer felt bothered by it. I was smiling- and not the fake smile of an imposter this time. However, that smile soon faded when I saw what the club was wearing today. They were wearing traditional costumes again, this time from China. However, I don't think that Tamaki had noticed that he was in fact wearing a woman's qipao.

"Princess Miyoko!" Tamaki exclaimed cheerfully when I arrived. "Welcome!"

"Umm… hi…" I replied automatically, still stunned by his strange attire.

Of course they were as ridiculous as ever. But that ridiculousness had led to the happiness of everyone around them. As I looked at Tamaki's wide smile and strange clothes, I realized that that 'everyone' included me. I knew now that my parents had abandoned my sister and me, and it still hurt a lot of the time. However, being surrounded by laughter, screaming fangirls and hare-brained ideas had always allowed me to forget everything else. I was an 'imposter', someone who had used these people for my own personal gain – yet they had forgiven me. I realized that I treasured every moment that I had with the crazy members of the Host Club and I would never try and hurt them again.

***Don't know if anyone picked up on this, but this book is taken from the title of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Blame my twin sister for suggesting it because she thought it sounded romance novelly :D**

**Thanks for reading this far! Leave a review if you have time!**


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